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Class BX (7 S 

Book J£l±JL 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A 

SILVER CROWN 

Twenty-Five Subjects of Interest 
and Instruction in Defence 
of the Church 

A PLEA FOR TRUTH, JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS 

q 

Leading Objections against our Faith 
and the Vagaries of Modern Times 
Presented and Satisfactorily Answered 



By 



REV. CLEMENT BECKMEYER 



LI88ARY of GOJUsfcSSSt 
I we oooie* H^v: 

AU6 19 )308 
cop* a. 



Imprimatur : 

"f" Ign. F. Horstmann, 

Bishop of Cleveland. 

Cleveland, February 12, 1908. 



Copyright, April 13, 1908 

By 

REV. CLEMENT BECKMEYER 



This book is respectfully dedicated to the 
Principles of Christian Truth ; to Our Mother, 
the Church; dedicated to the Zeal, Love and 
Devotion of Her Clergy ; to the many Sacrifices 
and Eminent Charity of Her Children, and to 
the Mother of Supernatural Life and Chief 
Consolation in the Hour of Death, 

By Her Most Humble Servant, 



THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE 



THE intent or purpose of a preface is to 
inform the reader either of the de- 
sign of the author, or of the occasion which 
gave rise to the work, or of the order and 
method that is observed therein, or of the 
profit that may be reaped from it. As for 
my design, it is no other than to convey a 
clear insight regarding the authority of our 
holy Mother, the Church; the reasonable- 
ness of her many and salutary doctrines, and 
endeavor to give a clear proof of the unten- 
ableness and falsity of some teachings, which 
are engaging the minds of our people today, 
thus illustrating by timely and appropriate 
examples how the adherence to, and the 
affiliation with, such doctrines lead man away 
from God, how they destroy the peace and 
happiness of his soul, leaving in its wide 
path only degradation and disgrace. I aim 
and aspire likewise to manifest to all man- 
kind that the representatives of our holy 
Mother, the Church, are her faithful and 

(v) 



vi 



Preface. 



loyal servants, her Bishops and Priests, who 
are called upon to vindicate the honor of her 
divine Founder and to proclaim His glory. 
They are clothed with the powers of Jesus 
Christ. The credentials of a divine embassy 
they have received, with express conditions 
to go forth into the world, teaching all na- 
tions and to reconcile the people with God, 
and with a discretion to judge and to decide 
who do and who do not come within the 
terms and conditions of their commission. 
The twenty-five subjects that are treated in 
so many chapters, the reader will find highly 
interesting, and at the same time they will 
place him in a defence to meet the objections 
of those who, from a motive of curiosity or 
from a genuine motive desire to be made ac- 
quainted with and to be instructed in such 
matters as this work conveys. The informa- 
tion embodied in these twenty-five chapters 
has been taken from the most approved 
sources, as the reader will learn, whenever 
a quotation has been made, that said quota- 
tion is taken from an authority most reliable. 
Every chapter has been treated as fully as 
possible by itself, to convey a clear and com- 
plete knowledge of its particular subject. My 



Preface, 



purpose was to make this book profitable to 
my kind reader, to acquaint him with the sub- 
limity of our holy Church and her many 
excellent and salutary teachings; likewise with 
her beautiful and impressive ceremonies. It 
is a well-known fact that the great majority 
of the objections against our holy faith and 
the practice of our holy Church come from 
a misunderstanding of our holy religion. If 
our enemies only knew the teachings of our 
Church, there would be a complete eradica- 
tion of prejudice; we would then have no 
reason to complain of unkind and bigoted 
utterances and writings in opposition of our 
holy faith. Of late years, however, much 
opposition has ceased, and the present age 
is marked by a greater and more extended 
refinement than any that has preceded it, 
since the records of history have been pre- 
served. This is due to the willingness and 
eagerness of becoming instructed on all the 
vital points of Catholic dogma and morals; 
and correspondingly with this refinement, 
with this softening of manners, has come a 
softening of prejudices; our principles have 
become better known. We must, however, 
not forget that all prejudices have not passed 



viii 



Preface. 



away, that many are deeply rooted in the 
minds and hearts of those not of our faith, 
who are outside the fold of Christ. For the 
exposition of our Catholic teachings and that 
it may fall into the hands of those principally 
who still carry sentiments of prejudice and to 
liberate them if possible from misconcep- 
tions due to a lack of instruction on questions 
relative to our faith and practice, this book 
I send forth. I confidently hope, dear reader, 
that you may derive some benefit from this 
little work, and whoever may be fortunate 
enough to possess a copy of this instruction, 
kindly remember that this work has not been 
launched with any feeling of hostility in the 
treatise of its subjects in the various chap- 
ters, far has it been from my mind to wound 
the feelings of anyone,, even of our most 
bitter enemies, who malign the Church and 
her priesthood. Nothing, therefore, but the 
love of God and an ardent desire to work for 
the salvation of souls prompts and urges me 
on to state the truth without fear and with all 
sincerity. It is a well-known fact, too, that 
many who do make objections are not guided 
by a motive to become instructed, when such 
objections are answered satisfactorily and in 



Preface. 



ix 



a manner most correct; they are not sincere, 
a certain bitterness and bigotry with an under- 
lying malice has taken possession of their 
hearts, and, in consequence, all the proofs 
and best reasoning would in these cases be 
altogether fruitless. This latter class are sec- 
tarians and our sworn enemies; in their 
blind zeal they will disguise themselves in 
every possible way to attain their mischievous 
purpose; and it becomes necessary to tear 
the mask from them and to show them in 
clearest and most emphatic terms and colors 
where their fault lies. Frequently we are 
attacked in romances, in pamphlets and pic- 
torials, and even in the pulpits of some church- 
es, which, in fact, should be consecrated to 
truth, charity and brotherly love, but in- 
stead are used to exploit falsities and cal- 
umnies. The true and faithful Christian has 
imbibed the doctrine of his Church with the 
regenerating waters of baptism, his loyalty 
to Church and fealty to God have been trans- 
planted from a parent's love and devotion 
into his pure and tender heart. The priests 
of his Church, ministers unto salvation, have 
made her history and theology the study of 
their lives. I, dear reader, feel in the depth 



X 



Preface. 



of my heart as a Catholic and as one of her 
sons of the holy priesthood, that I possess a 
treasure compared to which all things earthly 
are but dross. Our enemies, who rejoice in 
malignity towards the teachings and practices 
of our Church, are really surprised when those 
who are made the target of their false accu- 
sations feel indignant, and they tell us that 
we are too sensitive. Many and varied are 
the slanders that have been made, and are 
still fabricated, that we, most assuredly, have 
a just cause to utter complaint at times. The 
offense of those who give vent to calumnies 
against our holy Church cannot be exag- 
gerated nor too deeply deplored. There is a 
commandment which tells us: ' 'Thou shalt 
not bear false witness against thy neighbor." 
Why should there be any reason to malign 
the Church ? Were not the ancestors of those 
who are inimical to us rescued from spiritual 
and temporal misery; did not our holy Moth- 
er, the Church, bring peace and happiness for 
time and eternity to so many rising genera- 
tions ? Some accuse the Church of having 
become a sink of corruption; her rulers, the 
vice-gerents of Christ, were monsters of in- 
iquity; that ignorance and immorality pre- 



Preface. 



xi 



vail among her clergy; that superstition and 
idolatry had supplanted true Christianity. 
In this book, my kind reader will ascertain 
that such enormities are but fanciful flights 
from the fertile imaginations of those hostile 
to the Church. Since such charges are de- 
nied by the faithful of our religion, and if a 
gentleman denies a slander, the person who 
offered it, to be fair and just, is supposed to 
withdraw it and to apologize for the insult 
wantonly uttered or written, and if this is not 
done, it is his duty to prove it true. Neither 
is done; the lie goes on, on the principle, 
"Fling dirt enough; some will stick." Thus 
this stream flows on; by new rivulets of false- 
hood it is fed. The promoters of calumny, 
the adherents of such a system, in order to 
live and spread, had to discard the eighth 
commandment, which tells us that false wit- 
ness borne against our neighbor is sinful and 
malicious; yet such bear false witness on 
their so-called principle; it seems often that 
their hostility, vituperation, rancor and malice 
is the result of a most depraved heart and 
mind, and, it seems that a possibility of sur- 
render for an entrance into the rank of truth 
and justice is out of the question. Cardinal 



xii 



Preface. 



Newman says: "Falsehood succeeds for a 
generation, or for a period; but there it has 
its full course and comes to an end. Truth 
is eternal; it is great and will prevail. The 
end is the proof of things. " If anyone, per- 
chance, should read this book, whose mind 
has been poisoned against the Catholic Church, 
her Clergy and practices, kindly remember 
that all our teachings and doings are open 
and above-board. No manhood or dignity is 
surrendered w r hen you study our religion by 
the careful perusal of these pages. The whole 
truth is conveyed, the beauty and sanctity of 
our doctrine you w T ill learn, and by the pos- 
session of truth a profound peace of heart 
is your portion. Oh, if but one soul be 
gained to our holy Mother, the Church, from 
the lessons in this book given, my labor will 
not be in vain. We are working in the cur a 
animarum, the care of souls namely, and 
we pray the good Lord that He may give 
you light to see the truth, that you may faith- 
fully work in His vineyard with true perse- 
verance and, when the evening of life comes, 
be called to receive the penny of an eternal 
reward. 

Author. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I. page 
What the Catholic Church is 1 

Chapter II. 

What is a Priest? 6 

Chapter III. 

Sisters and Convents 11 

Chapter IV. 

Catholics and Protestants , 16 

Chapter V. 

Will Protestants be Saved ? , . . 24 

Chapter VI. 

Is the Catholic Church an Enemy of Progress? 30 

Chapter VII. 

Why the Catholic Church uses the Latin Language 36 

Chapter VIII. 
Why Priests do not Marry 42 

(xiii). 



xiv 



Contents. 



Chapter IX. page 
Do Catholics make good Citizens? 50 

Chapter X. 

The Catholic Church toward our Public Schools 58 

Chapter XI. 

Can we Prove that there is a God ? 66 

Chapter XII. 

Are Catholics forbidden to read the Bible? 74 

Chapter XIII. 
Catholics make too much of Mary ? 86 

Chapter XIV. 
Whether Sins must be confessed to a Priest 101 

Chapter XV. 

Is the Profession of the Priest a Money Profession?. . . .111 

Chapter XVI. 
With Death all is over ? 118 

Chapter XVII. 
The Pope is Infallible, but not Impeccable 130 

Chapter XVIII. 
Scandals in the Catholic Church? 137 



Contents. xv 

Chapter XIX. page 
Is Purgatory a Catholic Imagination? 150 

Chapter XX. 

Socialism and Socialistic Dreams 159 

Chapter XXI. 
The Troubles in France 175 

Chapter XXII. 
Divorce 188 

Chapter XXIII. 
Betrothal and Marriage 199 

Chapter XXIV. 
Decree on Betrothal and Marriage 213 

Chapter XXV. 
Mixed Marriages 224 



A SILVER CROWN 



CHAPTER I. 

WHAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS. 

THE Church is the society of the faithful, 
who profess the same faith, and partake 
of the same sacraments, under the authority 
of the lawful pastors, the successors of the 
apostles, and under the supreme direction of 
the Holy Father, the successor of St. Peter. 
She is the faithful depository of the doctrine 
of Jesus Christ, as well as of His sacra- 
ments and all the means of salvation which 
He has bequeathed to humanity. Various 
names she is known by, according to sacred 
scripture: the House of God, the Holy City 
Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Christ, the Fold 
of Christ, the Spouse of Christ, the King- 
dom of Heaven, a Paradise, the City of 
God. She is represented and known as a 

a) 



2 



A Silver Crown. 



society under those different names, a society 
enjoying a heavenly origin, perpetual in dura- 
tion and of universal extent. Thus it is 
easily understood that the word Church sig- 
nifies a reunion, an assembly, a society. Of 
this society of the faithful Jesus Christ is the 
invisible head, and the Pope the visible head. 
When we say that a person is the head of a 
society, we mean thereby that he is the leader 
and director. Jesus Christ is the head of the 
Church because He is its founder, preserver 
and sanctifier. Since the ascension of Christ 
into heaven, He is no longer visibly present 
upon this earth, yet at the same time He 
watches over His Church from the right hand 
of His Father in heaven, and this Church He 
governs and preserves through the light and 
unction of the Holy Ghost. In consequence 
Jesus Christ being the head of the Church, 
because He is its founder, the institution of 
the Church is not due to the apostles, but to 
Jesus Christ. They were but the executors 
of the will and orders of their divine Master. 
The apostles proclaimed themselves and con- 
stantly acted as servants or ministers of Christ 
and dispensers of the mysteries of God 
(I Cor. iv, 1). Their mission to found the 



What the Catholic Church is. 3 



Church was given them by Jesus Christ. He 
disposed, regulated, ordained all for the exe- 
cution of this plan. It was His will that all 
who believed in Him should form a religious 
society, which was to last to the end of time; 
and in this society He established an author- 
ity to govern it. When Jesus Christ as- 
cended into heaven He did not leave His 
Church, for, besides being always with her, 
although in an invisible manner, through the 
assistance of the Holy Ghost, He gave to His 
Church a visible head who holds His place, 
and who acts in His name and with the same 
power and privileges. This head was St. 
Peter, the prince of the apostles, to whom 
Christ gave the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven, and whom He charged to feed both 
the lambs and the sheep, that is, the pastors 
and the faithful, or the entire Church; today 
this shepherd of all the faithful is our Holy 
Father, the Pope, who is the successor of St. 
Peter. The faithful, therefore, form the flock, 
the apostles were the subordinate pastors, and 
Peter the supreme pastor, invested with un- 
limited power by Jesus Christ. In founding 
on St. Peter His spiritual empire, or, which 
amounts to the same, in placing the keys of 



4 



A Silver Crown. 



His Church, the symbols of supreme power, 
in the hands of Peter and his successors, 
Jesus Christ made the prince of the apostles 
the founder of a spiritual dynasty. This 
dynasty of the true Church has been perpet- 
uated without interruption by the 260 suc- 
cessors of Peter, the last of whom is now 
seated on the pontifical throne under the 
name of Pius X. 

It forms the trunk of the mystical tree 
which has since spread its branches over the 
whole world. Let us sav with Bossuet, the 
great bishop of Meaux: "O holy Church and 
Mother of all the faithful, Church chosen by 
God to unite all his children in the same 
faith and in the same charity, we shall ever 
hold fast to thy unity by our very heart- 
strings. If I forget thee, O Church of Rome, 
may I forget myself! In gratitude for the gift 
of God, the seal of which is impressed upon 
you, pray without ceasing for the Church. 
Tremble at the very shadow of division; think 
of the misery of the nations. Think of the 
misery of the nations which, bursting the 
bonds of unity, break up into so many frag- 
ments, and behold at last in their religion the 
confusion of hell and the horror of death. 



What the Catholic Church is. 5 



Against these fickle minds and this deceitful 
charm of novelty, let us oppose the rock on 
which we are built, and the authority of our 
tradition, which includes all ages past, and 
the antiquity which connects us with the very 
origin of all things. Let us walk in the paths 
of our fathers, but walk with their pure and 
simple life, as we desire to walk in the purity 
of the ancient faith. 5 ' 



6 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER II. 

WHAT IS A PRIEST ? 

HE IS a man consecrated exclusively to 
God, and this by the august sac- 
rament of Holy Orders, which by the im- 
position of the hands of the Bishop is im- 
parted, and gives to the priest, in the name 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, a character holy 
and indelible, he receives the power and com- 
mission to teach all mankind, to celebrate 
the holy Sacrifice, to pardon in the sacra- 
ment of Penance the penitent sinner, and to 
administer the sacraments, to impart bless- 
ings, for the sanctification of the faithful. 
It is of divine faith that our Lord ordained 
the apostles to be priests when by the words, 
" Hocfacite in meam commemorationem" the 
power to offer the holy Sacrifice was con- 
ferred upon them. Three days later he 
breathed on 'them, saying, "Receive ye the 
Holy Ghost." The power of absolution he 
gave them by these words. 



What is a Priest? 



7 



Both these utterances of our divine Saviour 
are of divine faith. In these two powers the 
priesthood was complete. The sacramental 
character of the priesthood is further mani- 
fest in holy scripture by the words of the 
illustrious apostle St. Paul in his Epistles to 
St. Timothy, where it is said, "Neglect not 
the grace that is in thee, which was given thee 
by prophecy, with imposition of the hands of 
the priesthood." (I St. Timothy iv, 14.) "I 
admonish thee that thou stir up the grace of 
God which is in thee by the imposition of 
my hands." (II St. Timothy i, 6.) 

From the words of the apostle, therefore 
(the priests, in a legitimate line of succession 
to Christ's disciples), it is seen, that they are 
clothed with the powers of Jesus Christ, as 
they are the successors of the apostles. It is 
likewise a manifestation of the eminent dig- 
nity of the priestly character. In fact, this 
dignity is not derived from personal merits, 
but from the sublime functions which he is 
called upon to perform. 

Considering a priest from a natural view- 
point, as a man namely, he is like other men, 
but, looked upon from the standpoint of grace, 
he is exalted above the angels, because such 



8 



A Silver Crown. 



powers are exercised by him which it is not 
given unto angels to exercise. The priest is 
the ambassador, the plenipotentiary of God. 
He is also the cooperator and the assistant of 
God in the great work of redemption. He 
is appointed to work for the honor and glory 
of God. "We are ambassadors for Christ," 
says the apostle; "God, as it were, exhorting 
by us." (II Cor. v, 20.) 

Jesus commissioned His apostles to go forth 
into the world, to teach all nations, teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever 
He had commanded, and He conveys the 
promise that He will be with them all the 
days unto the consummation of the world. 

We glean from this charge of Jesus to His 
disciples that their authority and power was 
not to be limited, but to be extended over the 
whole earth. Due respect and reverence 
should be manifested by all to His ministers 
who are sent forth to preach in His name and 
the multitude Jesus commands to listen and 
obey. It is plainly stated in the Bible, "He 
that heareth you, heareth me; and he that de- 
spiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that de- 
spiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me. 

Priests have the credentials of a divine 



What is a Priest? 



9 



embassy, with express conditions on which to 
call upon men to reconcile themselves with 
Him, and with a discretion to judge and to 
decide who do and who do not come within 
the terms and conditions of their commission. 

Sacred scripture terms priests fellow-work- 
ers with God in the field of the world and in 
the vineyard of the Church. They are plough- 
ers, and sowers and reapers. 

Priests are also fathers of all who are born 
again by water and the Holy Ghost; but in 
a special sense, and with a more intimate and 
an eternal relation, they are fathers of those 
whom they have regenerated by the saving 
waters of baptism. The title of father is the 
most simple and intelligible to all, old and 
young, learned and unlettered. Beautifully 
it is said by a famous writer on the sublimity 
of the priesthood, "The relation between 
priest and the faithful is a relation of father 
and child which is universal in the order of 
nature, and it becomes a spiritual instinct in 
the order of grace. The title of father is the 
first, the chief, the highest, the most potent, 
the most persuasive, the most honorable of 
all the titles of a priest." He might receive 
ever so many titles and honors from noble in- 



10 



A Silver Crown. 



stitutions of learning, and ever so many de- 
grees, but none has so deep and so high a 
sense as father. 

The priest is a blessing to our home, to our 
family. Many graces and blessings are con- 
ferred upon us through his holy ministrations. 
The poor sinner finds comfort and consola- 
tion in the sacred tribunal; he has been un- 
fortunate enough to leave the path of virtue 
and wander upon the one that leads to ruin. 
He says to himself, "I must regain God's 
love and friendship; I cannot continue this 
course of life"; and thus by the closest bond 
of mutual confidence and charity between 
priest and penitent, he confesses his tres- 
passes with contrite heart, and by the power 
of the sacred priesthood is again restored to 
God's love and friendship. 



Sisters and Convents. 



11 



CHAPTER III. 

SISTERS AND CONVENTS. 

IN CLOSE connection with the priest of 
God, the consoler of all who suffer, and 
the friend of all the friendless, we next in turn 
cannot fail to speak of the good sisters, who 
by learned theologians and eminent writers 
are called angels of mercy, charity and benev- 
olence. 

Oftentimes, even by those who are not of 
our faith, have the heroic deeds of our sisters 
been praised and chanted, many persons have 
been witnesses from time to time of noble acts 
of charity on battlefields and in hospitals; 
they have noticed the pleasant smile on their 
lips; clearly manifest are their simple and 
unaffected ways in the service of the sick and 
poor. 

A sister, then, is a virgin, who has conse- 
crated herself to the service of God by the 
three vows of poverty, chastity and obedi- 
ence, and bound herself to live in a religious 



12 



A Silver Crown. 



house under a certain rule. Nearly all nuns 
are bound to the recitation of the divine office 
in choir, and take their meals in common, but 
each has a separate, most humble apart- 
ment, commonly called cell. 

The life of a sister is contemplative; she 
realizes that God is her most gracious and 
benign Saviour amidst all the perils of human 
life, that our holy religion is made up of a 
succession of obligations, which form one com- 
plete whole, and are closely attached, one to 
another. To break one single link, to violate 
one single precept of religion, is to separate 
ourselves from God, to lose the life of the 
soul, and to jeopardize our eternal salvation. 

To a higher perfection and closer union 
with God she has been called. She is one 
whom the Heavenly Bridegroom invites by 
the words of the Psalmist, "Hearken, O 
daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and 
forget thy people and thy father's house. 
And the King shall greatly desire thy beauty; 
for He is the Lord thy God." (Ps. xliv, 11, 12.) 

The good and kind sister has heeded the 
invitation; many things near and dear to her 
heart she makes a sacrifice of for the honor 
and glory of God, for the welfare and salva- 



Sisters and Convents. 



13 



tion of her soul. Father and mother, home, 
and, in fact, all things that lend a charm and 
pleasure to life, she has left behind. She fully 
understands that this terrestrial kingdom of 
ours is a mere probation, where we are called 
upon to do all we possibly can, in order there- 
by to gain eternal happiness. 

These good women do a great deal towards 
prosperity, and the many blessings received in 
this glorious land. Their occupations vary. 
Some devote themselves to the work of edu- 
cation, to nursing the sick, or the care of the 
poor. Their lives are consecrated to the best 
interests of religion, and in their various occu- 
pations they are wives and mothers of a 
higher order, because they belong to the 
spiritual; they are the brides of the Holy 
Spirit; they become the teachers and instruc- 
tors of the ignorant, well knowing that by 
imparting an education all the influences 
which go to form the character are brought out. 

Sound education which these consecrated 
women of God bestow, stands before us 
symbolized by a tree planted near fertilizing 
waters, The good influence conveyed by their 
beautiful and exemplary life increases, and 
like the little seed which contains the design 



14 



A Silver Crown. 



of the tree, its form and proportions, this 
benign influence makes us better; we become 
more and more virtuous, more and more ac- 
ceptable, due to greater conformity to God's 
holy will. As instructors, too, they know that 
the various faculties or capacities await de- 
velopment and that education aims at devel- 
oping a noble type of manhood'. 

Man has various labors and duties to per- 
form in this world, which, too, as in the voca- 
tion of our noble sisterhood, require special 
training, and a wide range of knowledge. 

Bountifully has Nature endowed the noble 
sister with gifts well suited for the performance 
of a duty as an instructor and educator. Love, 
gentleness, goodness, tenderness, patience, 
watchfulness and the like are among the en- 
dowments that have been conferred upon her, 
and this in an eminent degree in order to fit 
her for educational work. 

She is like a good, virtuous and conscien- 
tious mother, and on the maternal bosom the 
mind of nations reposes; their manners, prej- 
udices, and virtues, in a word, the civiliza- 
tion of the human race, the development and 
enlightenment of the same, all depend upon 
maternal influence, whose position she assumes. 

As nursing the sick and caring for the poor, 



Sisters and Convents. 



15 



their Christian lives and Christian virtues are 
exemplified in all plenitude. To their inde- 
fatigable labors in the many sick-wards of 
our country, as also in the many institutions 
of poverty and charity, much of the great de- 
velopment of our country is due. When we 
enter any of our hospitals, there we find in 
these angels of mercy and love a patience that 
we cannot help admiring. We find, too, that 
their kindness is universal, and without any 
ostentation this great work is performed from 
day to day. 

Evident it is that a supernatural influence 
gladdens the hearts of these good sisters; 
poor they are in the goods of this world, and 
all that kind and generous souls give to their 
institutions of charity, is utilized for the alle- 
viation of suffering and want; it is simply a 
continuous performance of corporal and spir- 
itual works of mercy. Their life is a well- 
regulated life of work and prayer. They are 
certainly happy in their sacred abodes. 

All honor and respect to these ladies of 
Christian womanhood. We are made happier 
and our lives made more useful in beholding 
their influence upon humanity. They are to 
our lives what sunshine is to an auspicious day 
and the constellations to a beautiful night. 



16 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER IV. 



CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS. 

HE term Catholic in its true signification 



JL stands for Universal, and when we 
speak of a Catholic we understand a person 
who belongs to the true Church, one that is 
not circumscribed in its extent, one that is 
spread in all parts of the world, in order that 
it may be known by all men. The earnest 
and sincere Catholic is enabled to give an 
account of his religion. He knows the duties 
that are incumbent upon him, and with his 
whole heart he follows its dictates. Many 
obligations of prayer, sacrifice and self-denial 
he performs. He knows that every truth of 
his religion is holy, salutary and full of heaven- 
ly wisdom. 

A good Catholic is found faithful, benign 
and assiduous in the multiform works of 
charity. He seeks, by his noble and Christian 
life, a closer union with his Creator and Re- 
deemer. A Catholic who is sincere esteems 




Catholics and Protestants. 17 



his affiliation with holy Mother Church the 
greatest of blessings, and in truth the true 
Church claims justly his deepest love and 
reverence. "My son," says the wise man, 
"hear the instruction of thy father, and for- 
sake not the law of thy mother." 

The Catholic knows that the Church acts 
as a real mother to him from the cradle to the 
grave. Scarcely has he opened his eyes when 
she is ready to receive him and by the regen- 
erating waters of baptism to make him a child 
of God. In course of time, as his mind de- 
velops he is made acquainted with her many 
sublime truths, with the numerous shining 
examples of virtue and mortification of her 
devoted children. Saints in all states and 
conditions of life are unto him a most beau- 
tiful example for imitation and emulation. 

The sincere Catholic is proud of his reli- 
gion, for he knows that the Church has held 
and preserved the deposit of faith for more 
than nineteen centuries; she alone speaks 
with the confidence inspired by that deposit 
of faith; she alone has her worship and her 
devotions for all mankind; everyone can join, 
and at her altar you will find men of every 
race, strangers to one another in language, 



18 



A Silver Crown. 



government and manners, all can kneel side 
by side, everyone finds himself at home, Cath- 
olics all and children all of the one Church 
and of the one God. 

There are, again, Catholics who are so 
only in name; you will find them very indif- 
ferent about their religion. Many are far 
from being sufficiently instructed on the evi- 
dent marks of truth which are offered by the 
Catholic Church, to which they have the hap- 
piness to belong. Some are merely Catholics 
because they have been raised in the Cath- 
olic religion or because their parents are 
Catholics, or because everything around them 
is more or less of a Catholic nature and char- 
acter. This sort of Catholics never prays; 
there is a lukewarmness in their faith; you 
never see them approaching the sacraments; 
they neglect the service of God; there is a 
practical incredulity in all things religious. 

Therefore we must be on our guard, lest we 
confound the two together; we should never 
take bad Catholics as the type of Catholics in 
general. Catholics do not maintain that all 
her members are good and practical; there is 
a vast difference between the merely nominal 
Catholic and the one who is sincere. Cor- 



Catholics and Protestants. 19 

ruption of morals is often found among those 
of the former; instead of being a credit and 
an honor to their Church, they are a source of 
scandal and grievance. It is indeed a painful 
fact. "It must be that scandals come, but 
woe to him by whom the scandal cometh." 
Their transgressions are deserving of greater 
punishment in the sight of God. They know 
better in the great majority of cases, conse- 
quently there can be no excuse on the ground 
of involuntary ignorance; but, their sin is one 
of malice on account of the abuse of the grace 
of God. 

The Church, following in the footsteps of 
her divine Spouse, never repudiates sinners, 
and she does not abandon the sinner, no mat- 
ter how great and notorious his faults may be. 
She is mindful of the saying of her divine 
Founder, that He desires not the death of 
the sinner, but that he be converted and live. 
We should, therefore, not be influenced by 
these imperfections of human frailty, by these 
traces of original sin, by the bad examples and 
crying scandals of wicked Catholics, because 
all this does not invalidate or impair her 
claim as the true Church of Christ. 

Spots you will find on the sun, yet the 



20 



A Silver Crown. 



brightness of the sun is thereby not stained. 
The cockle that grows amidst the wheat 
does not destroy the beauty of the ripened 
grain. Behold the great number of her good 
and saintly children, Catholics in truth and in 
deed! Especially do we find them in the re- 
ligious life, where evangelical perfection is 
practised in so wonderful a manner, and 
where the charity, the modesty, and all the 
virtues of the most beautiful times of Chris- 
tianity seem to be perpetuated. Has not the 
sanctity of the saints been proven by their 
beautiful and sweet lives and by numberless 
and most striking miracles! We should read 
their lives and it will have the effect of stim- 
ulating within our hearts a greater love for 
our Founder, Jesus Christ. 

The signification of the word Protestant is: 
to make a protest, pertaining therefore to a 
class of religious people, their doctrines, or 
forms of religion. The name is now ex- 
tended to all persons and churches holding 
the doctrines of the Reformation and reject- 
ing Papal authority. 

As between Catholics and Catholics, there 
is likewise a great difference between the 
ardent Protestant and the dormant Protes- 



Catholics and Protestants. 21 



tant. It is not so much the Protestant against 
whom the Catholic Church directs all her 
powers of truth, the stability of her doctrine, 
and the solidity of principles, but it is against 
Protestantism itself. 

Our divine Saviour died for all Protestants 
as He died for every other man ; he is a brother 
whom we are bound to love and respect. 
They are men beloved of God like every 
other man. Protestantism is a rebellion 
against truth. Its leaders sanctioned rebellion 
by undermining the principle of authority. 
Instead of lending assistance in cooperating 
with the lawful authorities, the flames which 
passions brought on were enkindled, it was 
a rebellion against God, a rebellion detested 
and cursed by God as He detested and 
cursed the rebellion of the angels in heaven. 

We cannot but help towards the extension 
of favor and kindness to the individual; 
Protestantism, however, we must detest; we 
must not be failing in our charity to the sinner, 
but sin we must detest. An ardent Protestant 
is one who is ready to fight for the tenets of 
his creed, prompted by motives of sect and 
propagandism. 

On this account they frequently become 



22 



A Silver Crown. 



unjust and hateful in their aggression towards 
everything Catholic, bitterly do they denounce 
the Church in their journals and various 
writings, and the organs of revolution and 
rationalism bristle up with extreme acerbity 
and malignity. The ardent Protestants are 
sectarians in the full sense and are at the same 
time sworn enemies. In their blind zeal they 
will disguise themselves in every possible 
way to attain their purpose. 

What a contrast between the blessed vision 
of peace and tranquillity within the Catholic 
Church and the scene of disorder and tumult 
of Protestantism. There, nearly every pul- 
pit is made the centre of a different teaching, 
which, delivered without authority, is heard 
without submission. The dormant Protes- 
tants are such because they were born such; 
in fact, they care very little what their minis- 
ters say; they are but Protestants in name, 
and the want of religion in these persons is 
frequently a consequence of their education, 
and of their associations, rather than a per- 
sonal and culpable sentiment. Such as a 
rule have no ill will against their Catholic 
neighbors, frequently by fortunate circum- 
stances, which may be called the grace of 



Catholics and Protestants. 23 



God, they are seen entering within the true 
fold. 

Many, again, live in good faith; they are 
sincere Christians, carrying out all the max- 
ims of the golden rule, serving God to the 
best of their knowledge. They belong to 
the soul of the Church. May the grace of 
God enlighten the minds of these souls, pur- 
chased too, by His most precious blood; may 
the number of the elect be increased, so that 
there will be one shepherd and one sheepfold. 
This is the prayer of holy Church, this is the 
wish of every Catholic, a manifestation of 
love towards our separated brethren. May 
God grant our most humble petition! 



24 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER V. 

WILL PROTESTANTS BE SAVED ? 

THIS question is certainly of vital im- 
portance, and simultaneously, of great 
interest to our separated brethren, de- 
siring to know what a Catholic priest may have 
to say on a subject of this kind. There is no 
doubt in the mind of any instructed Catholic 
that a Protestant can be saved, and from this a 
consequent deduction is made that many will 
be saved. We maintain in first order, that 
since God is a God of unity, there can be but 
one true religion. 

The apostles always insisted upon unity of 
faith. This unity of faith we must preserve 
at all times; we must submit ourselves to the 
church interiorly and exteriorly, with heart 
and lips, for she is the pillar and ground of 
truth; what the true Church teaches is the 
word of God, and in all matters of faith she 
cannot err, because she has been promised 
the guidance of the Holy Spirit until the end 
of time. 



Will Protestants be Saved ? 25 



At the time of the Reformation many sep- 
arated from the Mother Church. The Ref- 
ormation was the uprising of man's passion 
against the higher being in man; it was the 
revolt of all that is mean and degrading in 
human nature against the moral dignity of 
man. It cannot be denied that a corruption 
of morals did prevail in the sixteenth century, 
which called for a reformation, yet this refor- 
mation should have been accomplished by 
combating the corruption of morals and the 
iniquities of the time in the correct way. 
Manifesting hostile sentiments against the 
authority of the Church was not the true, 
right and effective weapon to be wielded, 
but the true weapons of an apostle should 
have been brought into action, and these are 
prayer, good works and the sacraments. 
Many well-meaning persons were led into 
error by various leaders, the facilities and 
advantages for a good and useful education 
were and could not be offered at that period. 
Martin Luther taught doctrines both destruc- 
tive and degrading. 

Indeed, one can be deceived without being 
aware of it. Thus it is with many of our 
Protestant friends at the present time. It is 



26 



A Silver Crown. 



a misfortune, yet at the same time they are 
endeavoring to serve God according to the 
best knowledge of their judgment. It is 
simply a material error with them, which is 
involuntary, and, of course, such an error is 
not a sin. Protestants who are living in good 
faith will be saved, if this good faith is an 
invincible one. Where this good faith does 
not exist, he could then not be saved, 
because in such instance, he separates him- 
self from truth, which is Jesus, and from 
the association of truth, which is the true 
Church of Christ. Truth is eternal and unity 
of faith is an imperative duty upon all. 

A Protestant must accept all opportunities 
to find the true Church and these opportuni- 
ties are indeed abundant. Should this be 
neglected on his part, we could not say that 
he is in good faith. If he neglected his duty, 
and duty it is, such a one would be living in 
bad faith, and consequently, his eternal sal- 
vation would be at stake. 

There are many who are very indifferent 
about their religion, and are not sincere in 
their search for truth. This search is an 
obligation and a responsibility we owe to 
God. It binds our conscience and makes us 



Will Protestants be Saved ? 27 



accountable for its neglect. It is a duty, 
which a Protestant is bound to perform, and 
which he cannot shirk without punishment. 
Every one of us is dependent on our Creator 
and we are subject to His most holy will. 
The salvation of our Protestant friend is more 
difficult, even granting that he is living in 
good faith, and that he really does not know 
better, serving God, as he says, according to 
the dictates of his conscience. Withal, I say, 
it is more difficult, because he has not the re- 
sources that his Catholic friend has, and 
by these resources we understand the means of 
grace. His faith is always more or less un- 
certain. 

Faith is the beginning and at the same time 
the vivifying principle of all those virtues, 
with whose assistance one can save his soul. 
The majority of those Protestants who in 
reality are said to be in good faith, belong to 
the poor and middle classes, commonly to 
the working classes; because they have not 
the facilities, the advantages, and are de- 
barred from the means of instruction; that 
instruction namely, which renders the learned 
classes inexcusable. 

The means of grace are a spiritual food, a 



28 



A Silver Crown. 



nourishment to our souls, and this food our 
poor Protestant friends are deprived of. The 
greatest of all these are the sacrament of 
confession and the sacrament of love, holy 
communion. Hence, even for all those, other- 
wise in good faith, it becomes difficult for 
them to be sanctified and saved. Those, 
then, who are in bad faith can never be saved, 
because they make no effort to arrive at the 
truth. Such action is considered a deliberate 
and obstinate rebellion against the divine 
teachings of Jesus Christ. Above all things, 
unity of faith is paramount, because faith is 
the foundation of all religious edifices, the 
first element of Christian life. Denial or re- 
fusal, therefore, to search for the truth, to 
give this matter a sincere and conscientious 
investigation, is a neglect of duty, detestable 
in the sight of God. 

Where a person performs his duty, using 
his best efforts to obtain the knowledge of 
truth, and is sincere regarding the salvation 
of his soul, such person will receive the en- 
lightenment of faith, the grace of God will be 
imparted to his soul; thus, by a faithful ob- 
servance of God's holy commands, making 
secure the salvation of his soul. 



Will Protestants be Saved? 



29 



Summarily then, regarding this question, 
when a Protestant is in an absolute good faith 
concerning his religion, serves God to the best 
of his knowledge, he is then considered be- 
longing to the soul of the one true Church of 
Jesus Christ, and there is no doubt that he can 
and will be saved. A Protestant in bad faith 
cannot be saved, because he is not living in an 
invincible material error, but in formal vol- 
untary heresy. Is he a Protestant in doubt- 
ful faith, then it becomes his duty to investigate 
and in doing so the spirit of truth will en- 
lighten his soul, and by the grace of the Holy 
Spirit he will enter the one true Church; and 
by fervent and assiduous prayer, by a perse- 
vering zeal merit unto himself a crown, 
celestial and eternal. 



30 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER VI. 

IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AN ENEMY OF 
PROGRESS? 

A DISTINCTION must be made be- 
tween a good and true progress, and 
a progress which is false and bad. The 
Church takes a great interest in all that is good 
and beneficial; she approves and promotes 
what is properly and truly called Progress. 

Natural sciences and the beautiful arts are 
progressing wonderfully, inventions that have 
been made within the period of our existence 
are an honor and a credit to the human in- 
tellect. We call your attention to the rail- 
roads of our day, steamboats, the inexplicable 
and wonderful powers and workings of elec- 
tricity, the great and imposing machines in 
agriculture; behold our manufacturing estab- 
lishments and the trades, the grand, sublime 
and majestic works in architecture — all this 
is surely progress. Years ago nobody gave 
them a thought, and in fact at that time all 



Is the Church an Enemy of Progress ? 31 

the powers of man's imagination conveyed 
not even an obscure idea. 

Who for a moment would dare to assert 
that the Church is opposed to this progress ? 
At all places and at all times she has taken an 
active part in sublime and wonderful achieve- 
ments; always has she approved all useful 
progress, and her clergy of today continue to 
take part in it. It is preposterous and ridic- 
ulous to make the assertion that the Church is 
an enemy of progress. 

The Church civilized the unlettered, rude 
and barbarous nations. She it was who in- 
structed them in agriculture, in various arts; 
she likewise taught them numerous trades in 
manufacture, the noble lessons in architec- 
ture, enabling them to construct magnificent 
and commodious edifices and buildings; she 
it was, too, who arranged the system to lead 
a regularly ordered life in our villages, towns 
and cities. 

When we consider education what do we 
find ? She it was who conveyed to nations 
the knowledge of the laws of health, the con- 
stitution and growth of the human mind, thus 
elevating the people; she it was that estab- 
lished schools everywhere and founded insti- 



32 



A Silver Crown. 



tutions of learning. By her many schools and 
colleges, academies and universities, where 
knowledge is imparted to men and women of 
all ages, she supports the state in the education 
of its subjects. So it is a great wrong to call 
the Church the adversary of progress. 

On the contrary, she sanctions and promotes 
progress wherever she can and as much as 
she can. Take this land of ours that has been 
discovered by that shining genius, that has 
been explored by Catholic missionaries, un- 
tiring in their zeal and devotion, a land, bap- 
tized in the blood of the Catholic revolu- 
tionary heroes, a land preserved in unified 
glory of the strength and loyalty of Catholic 
arms on many a field. Can it be said of us 
that we are enemies of progress ? The Cath- 
olic Church produced these men; it was her 
benign influence that nourished them, pre- 
pared their hearts for the noble and heroic 
deeds of love and devotion for their fellow- 
man. The first book printed in America was 
the work of Catholics; and so was the first 
college organized in this beloved and glorious 
land. 

We know from history that the French sol- 
diers who came to the assistance of George 



Is the Church an Enemy of Progress? 33 



Washington when all seemed forlorn and of 
darkest hue, were sent by a devoutly Cath- 
olic king and queen. However, we will find 
many, and even in this supposedly enlight- 
ened century of ours, who have the audacity 
and insolence to call us enemies of progress 
and enlightenment. The Church has at all 
times manifested by her many sources of 
learning, by the impairment of knowledge 
to her children, how to make the most of all 
the circumstances which surround us; to 
create for ourselves a field upon which our 
temperaments, intellectual and moral, may de- 
velop themselves independently; to ascertain 
exactly our own worth and the worth of others; 
and to be able to vindicate to ourselves the 
place we ought to occupy in the world. The 
Church is an enemy of false and bad progress, 
however, a progress, if it really can be called 
progress, which seeks a triumph in our day, 
and which, if it should obtain full sway, would 
fill the world with mischief and ruin. Such 
a progress denies the existence of God, a basis 
upon which the whole fabric of Christian doc- 
trine rests: it does not respect the noble crea- 
ture of God, man namely; it makes him 
descend from an ape or it makes him originate 



34 



A Silver Crown. 



from the foam of the sea, as birds from the 
yolk of an egg; regarding the soul of man, it 
denies a reunion of soul and body. All is 
over with death, they say there is no im- 
mortality of soul, there is no such a thing 
and place as eternal happiness and heaven. 

Materialism and rationalism, such enemies 
of holy Mother Church, they style Progress. 
Such progress subverts all that the Christians, 
the Jews, and even the Gentiles, have be- 
lieved and still are wont to believe. There are 
various grades of the above progress, some are 
not so radical and sweeping; it does not go 
so far. To this class all those belong who 
still have sufficient faith that they are not ex- 
actly infidels; they admit that a God must 
exist, the immortality of the soul they do not 
deny, also, that all those performing good 
deeds, leading a virtuous life will be rewarded 
and that the wicked will merit punishment. 
They are not unbelievers entirely, yet many 
articles of the true faith they reject. If such 
could be called Progress, it would simply 
mean detriment and perdition. 

The Church cannot sanction any such doc- 
trines, she must place her ban upon them by 
all means, and must condemn them abso- 



Is the Church an Enemy to Progress? 35 

lutely, for otherwise she would not carry out 
her commission to teach all nations, to con- 
vey the truth to all. She must not and does 
not care what her enemies say about her; it 
is the defense of truth that must be cham- 
pioned, and even if infidels and free-thinkers 
do make the charge that she is an enemy of 
progress, her stability of doctrine, founded 
upon her divine Spouse, and her channels of 
grace 'that have imparted blessings and con- 
stantly do impart them to the faithful, are 
an absolute guarantee and a truth incontro- 
vertible, that instead of being an enemy of 
progress, she is a friend and promoter of 
progress. 



36 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER VII. 

WHY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH USES THE 
LATIN LANGUAGE. 

THE principal reason why the Latin lan- 
guage is used is because she did so 
in the very beginning and, as she never 
changed her faith, she has never deemed it 
advisable to change her language. Because 
she is apostolic, the Latin language is used; 
she alone teaches doctrines which are in all 
respects identical with the teachings of the 
apostles. Being the Church of St. Peter and 
of the apostles, with all tenderness, love, re- 
spect and esteem she guards and preserves 
all the precious memories of the first teachers 
of the gospel. 

When the commission to go forth and teach 
all nations of the earth was given to the 
apostles, it was found that two languages 
were spoken and understood: in the West it 
was the Latin, and in the East, the Greek. 
The gospel was preached, therefore, in these 



Why the Church uses Latin. 



37 



languages. In the beginning the Church was 
but small, members but few; teachings were 
given in synagogues, along hill and mountain 
sides, at the seashore, on the plain, in beau- 
tiful and fertile valleys; their teachings, reg- 
ulations and their constitution were written 
in the Latin and Greek languages. Being 
apostolic in her origin, she furthermore is 
catholic, which means universal; the Church 
must address herself to all times, nations and 
climes. This is another reason why she 
speaks Latin. 

During the first three or four centuries the 
Roman Empire was on the pinnacle of its 
glory; it ruled the destinies of the world. 
The Romans had dominion over the greater 
part of Europe and many possessions did they 
enjoy in Asia and Africa. They constituted 
the civilized world at that period, and Latin was 
the language of the civilized nation. Wher- 
ever the Roman standard was planted, there 
also the Latin language was enforced. So in 
her teachings, her constitution and in her pub- 
lic worship, this beautiful language was used; 
it was the language then prevailing among 
the people. The fathers of the early Church 
generally used the Latin tongue. This lan- 



38 



A Silver Crown. 



guage became the depositary of the Church 
treasury. In the sacred liturgy we find es- 
pecially the beauty, harmony and symmetry 
of this fine language. Whilst we find the 
world at present divided into many national- 
ities, the Church is seen to behold her beauti- 
ful language of primitive ages, and thus we 
ascertain that she not only remained one in 
her faith but also one in her language. 

If she changed in her language with the 
many changes surrounding us, what confusion 
and what disedification w^ould be the result! 
Such could not be avoided, and the sacred 
earnestness of her liturgy, the devotion and 
ardor in her worship, would find no proper 
enunciation and religious exemplification. Uni- 
formity would be greatly deficient, a true and 
respectful celebration of the holy Sacrifice 
would be lacking, on account of the many 
mutations which our modern languages have 
undergone in these centuries. The beautiful 
and sublime ceremonies of her liturgy are 
forever made unchangeable, as she is un- 
changeable in doctrine and essence, by the use 
of the Latin language. "Faith may be called 
the jewel, and language is the casket which 
contains it. So careful is the Church of pre- 



Why the Church uses Latin. 39 



serving the jewel intact, that she will not even 
disturb the casket in which it is set." Mod- 
ern languages are continually changing which 

o o «/ O o 7 

we will not find in the Latin tongue. We are 
told by an eminent writer on the language of 
the Church, that had the Church adopted 
the English language, the formula of conse- 
cration in the Adorable Sacrifice she would 
have been obliged to modify thirty-nine times; 
would she, for example, have adopted the 
French language, the formula of the sacra- 
ment of Baptism she would have been obliged 
to modify over one hundred times; the form- 
ula would never have expressed the necessary 
meaning it was obliged to convey, if such 
modifications had not been made. What 
would be the consequence ? These transfor- 
mations would cause great confusion, which 
is not liable with the use of the Latin. Car- 
dinal Gibbons relates an amusing anecdote 
anent this question: "In an old Bible pub- 
lished in the fourteenth century, St. Paul calls 
himself the villain of Jesus Christ. The 
word villain' in those days meant a servant, 
but the term would not be complimentary 
now to one even less holy than the apostle." 
Another reason why the Church speaks 



40 



A Silver Crown. 



Latin is, because she has the mark of catho- 
licity, meaning universal; her children are 
found in all parts of the world, who speak 
different languages. The bishop of a diocese 
must give a report of the status of his diocese 
decennially, or every ten years, and he is 
expected to call in person on the sovereign 
Pontiff; these men come from all parts of 
the world. Now, if they had no uniform lan- 
guage to express their thoughts when in con- 
versation with the Holy Father, how annoy- 
ing, embarrassing and forlorn would not their 
condition be! How could the bishops, when 
in council, and coming from so many differ- 
ent parts of this world, communicate with 
one another, if they had not a language that 
all understood ? You will learn from this 
that as our church is universal she must like- 
wise have a universal language, which is 
found in the application of Latin. 

Some w r ill say, why does the priest not say 
the Mass in the vernacular; what is the use 
of saying it in Latin ? To the reasons already 
given in using Latin, it may be added that 
the Mass is a sacrifice of prayer, which the 
priest offers to God for himself and the 
people. The essence of Catholic worship 



Why the Church uses Latin. 



41 



does not consist in sermons, but in prayer 
and sacrifice; the essential duties of priest 
and people are sacrifice and prayer. 



42 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

WHY PRIESTS DO NOT MARRY. 

OUR blessed Lord has not made this a 
command, but priests do not marry 
because it is His will and the doctrine of 
His apostles that they should lead single lives. 
Purity in body, as well as in soul, is required 
of all those who consecrate themselves to the 
service of God. Celibacy is an institution 
which has always been regarded by the Church 
as a means most efficient and an agency most 
powerful for good, and at the same time be- 
cause a character is conferred that is most 
holy and sublime. 

To be a priest means to replace Christ, to 
be guided by His spirit, a priest being called 
upon to live solely and directly for Christ. 
The doctrine of celibacy and virginity is beau- 
tifully declared by St. Paul to the Corin- 
thians: "Now concerning virgins I have no 
commandment of the Lord; but I give coun- 
sel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord, to 



Why Priests do not Marry. 43 



be faithful." St. Paul, after showing that 
marriage is good and honorable, again says: 
"I would have you without solicitude. He 
who is unmarried, careth for the things of the 
Lord, how he may please God; but he who 
is married is solicitous about the things of the 
world, how he may please his wife, and he is 
divided. And the unmarried woman and the 
virgin thinketh of the things of the Lord, that 
she may be holy in body and spirit. But she 
that is married thinketh of the things of the 
world, how she may please her husband. 
Therefore, both he that giveth his virgin in 
marriage, doth well; and he who giveth 
her not, doth better." 

The fundamental idea of the Christian 
priesthood is, that the priest is the represen- 
tative of Christ, the second and spiritual 
Adam, whose work they continue, and in 
whose unmarried state they early recognized 
the prototype and pattern of their own. A 
predilection for virginity is shown by Jesus 
Christ Himself, and this not only by always 
remaining a virgin, but in the selection of 
Mary, a virgin-mother; also His precursor, 
St. John, was a virgin. A special regard and 
love was constantly manifested by our divine 
Saviour for St. John. 



44 



A Silver Crown. 



Celibacy, therefore, although not of strict 
command enforced by our Saviour, yet being 
so strongly commended by Himself and His 
apostles, and this by word and example, the 
Church felt it her duty to lay it down as a law. 

The Church gives the following reasons 
which she regards as sufficient to justify and 
commend the practice of celibacy: "It is fit- 
ting that he who would worthily celebrate the 
holy Sacrifice of the Mass, an office destined 
to continue till the end of time, should be dis- 
tinguished by eminent purity of body; no one 
who does not enjoy this freedom, can give 
his life undivided to Christ and His Church, 
and labor with the single purpose of advanc- 
ing His interests and glory, since the married 
state necessarily implies a divided heart and 
pursuits, directed to other ends; the married 
state would limit that absolute independence 
so necessary to the successful ministry of the 
priest." 

From sacred scripture we learn that the 
Jewish priests, while they were engaged in 
the work of offering the sacrifice of animals 
in the temple, were obliged to abstain from 
all intercourse with their wives, and if this 
was already required of the priests in the Old 



Why Priests do not Marry. 



45 



Law, whose offering of sacrifice was simply 
that of animals, how much more should not 
the priests of the New Law practice continual 
chastity, who offer daily the sacrifice of the 
Immaculate Lamb? The Pagans even did 
not regard a priesthood as perfect unless it , 
embraced in its meaning the state of virginity. 

Of this universal feeling we have an ex- 
ample regarding the honor and reverence 
paid to the Vestal virgins and Sibyls. The 
high-priest, too, was not allowed to enter into 
the married state after he had assumed his 
office, or, in case he was already married, 
abstinence from all intercourse with his wife 
was enjoined. The exalted idea formed of 
the priesthood increased the obligation of 
clerical celibacy, and this gradually became 
more imperative. 

The priest, being the representative of 
Christ, is called upon to preach the word of 
God, to administer the sacraments and to 
celebrate the Holy Sacrifice, consecrating the 
Body and Blood of Christ, distributing the 
same to the faithful; all this requires not only 
purity of soul but likewise great purity of 
body. The priest must take under his charge 
the children of his entire flock, begotten not 



46 



A Silver Crown. 



of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but of 
God. 

Dear reader, kindly remember that no can- 
didate for the holy priesthood is forced to take 
upon himself the vow of chastity, and that the 
Church never obliged anyone to lead a single 
life. If a person, however, desires to take 
upon him the office of the holy priesthood, if he 
desires to consecrate his life to God, wishing 
to be ordained a priest, then of course we 
must admit, that the Church has a perfect 
right to prescribe the conditions on which a 
man may find a realization of his desires. 

No one, therefore, is compelled to be a 
priest. Many years of hard study are spent 
in college; after that the collegian makes the 
study of Philosophy; having been successful 
in that branch of science, Theology is taken 
up. Terminating this course successfully, the 
final step is taken; she then throws around her 
consecrated ministers a wall of protection in 
her canonical statutes. 

Thus you can ascertain that the making of 
a priest is not a question of a few years. It 
means that an arduous task must be accom- 
plished. His kind superiors during the cur- 
riculum of his studies put him through a long 



Why Priests do not Marry. 47 

and well-ordered discipline, and even in the 
final moments the Church says: "Dearly be- 
loved children, who are about to be promoted 
to the Holy Order of Subdeaconship, you 
ought to consider attentively, again and again, 
to what a burde:: you, of your own accord, 
this day aspire. For as yet, you are free, and 
it is lawful for you at will to pass over to 
worldly pursuits. But if you receive this 
Order, you will no longer be at liberty to re- 
cede from your resolution, but you will be 
obliged to serve God perpetually; and with 
His assistance to observe chastity, and you 
will be bound to the ministry of the Church 
forever. Wherefore, while there is yet time, 
reflect, and, if you wish to persevere in your 
holy resolution, in the name of the Lord, come 
hither." 

If our priests were married you would not 
hear of the many sacrifices that are made by 
them every day. Oftentimes they are called 
to places to administer the last sacraments to 
persons having a loathsome and contagious 
disease; the priest knows it is the question of 
saving a soul; the poor patient is reconciled 
with his Creator and Redeemer; it may be 
the will of God, that such should be his last 



48 



A Silver Crown. 



illness; he calls that soul to Himself; the 
priest, amidst dangers, has performed his duty 
in saving the soul. He is not solicitous for 
the things of this world; he has no directions 
to leave concerning wife and family, or any 
bank account with next kin and neighbor. 
The faculties of his soul and body he has con- 
secrated to God. 

The priest becomes the father of the or- 
phans and widows. Those who are in trouble, 
having many cares and hardships to encoun- 
ter, look upon the priest as a kind, sincere, 
benevolent and generous friend. ' 'There is 
in every parish a man who has no family, but 
who belongs to every family, a man who is 
called upon to act in the capacity of witness, 
counsel or agent in all the most important 
acts of civil life; a man without whom none 
can enter the world or go out of it, who takes 
the child from the bosom of its mother, and 
leaves it only at the tomb ; who blesses or con- 
secrates the crib, the bed of death and the 
bier; a man that little children love and fear 
and venerate; whom even unknown persons 
address as "father"; at the feet of whom and 
in whose keeping all classes of people come 
to deposit their most secret thoughts, their 



Why Priests do not Marry. 49 

most hidden sins; a man who is by profession 
the consoler and the healer of all the miseries 
of soul and body; through whom the rich and 
the poor are united; at whose door they 
knock by turns, the one to deposit his secret 
alms, and the one to receive it without 
being made to blush because of his need; 
the man who, being himself of no social rank, 
belongs to all indiscriminately: to the inferior 
ranks of society by the unostentatious life he 
leads, and often by humble birth and parent- 
age; to the upper class by education, often by 
superior talents and by the sublime sentiments 
his religion inspires and commands; a man 
who knows everything, who has the right to 
everything, from whose hallowed lips " words 
of divine wisdom are received by all with the 
authority of an oracle and w r ith entire sub- 
mission of faith and judgment; this man is 
the priest." — Church Progress. 



50 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER IX. 



DO CATHOLICS MAKE GOOD CITIZENS ? 

PON first thought it seems strange that 



-V_> a question of this kind should be placed, 
yet after due consideration we will remem- 
ber that Catholics have frequently been 
accused of not being loyal citizens, and even 
in our time uncharitable individuals make 
this accusation. 

A man that performs the duties incumbent 
upon his state of life, justly, honorably and 
magnanimously, both private and public, 
of peace and of war, is said to be a good citi- 
zen. Sacred scripture tells us that we must 
render to God the things that are God's and 
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. A 
good citizen is an honor and a credit to his 
country, a treasure to his state, and a useful 
and valuable person to the community in 
which he resides. A good citizen has a reli- 
gious sense of duty; he manifests a spirit of 
fidelity to his government and to the flag of 




Do Catholics make good Citizens ? 51 

the nation of which he is a citizen. A good 
citizen extends a helping hand wherever and 
whenever he can, the various exigencies of 
state, county, city and borough he meets, in 
contributing his share in the payment of dif- 
ferent kinds of taxes and dues. 

We have seen in the treatise, whether the 
Church is an enemy of progress, that she has 
at all times proven herself an enemy of vice 
and barbarism, a true friend of genuine 
progress and civilization. Catholics are loyal 
to their government, are faithful and con- 
scientious in the performance of their duties to 
God and country ; they do not seek any special 
rights and privileges, but only ask for the 
square deal, expressive of our undaunted and 
fearless President. Our holy religion is surely 
reconcilable with true American citizenship. 
Catholics know that government is ordained 
by God; to live as a social being, government 
is a necessity. One man has not the inherent 
right to rule over other men, but every nation 
becomes a collective unit morally, and by the 
very fact that it is a nation, it is sovereign. 
This sovereign nation, therefore, has a perfect 
right to make laws for the benefit and wel- 
fare of its constituents, and this adoption, 
then, is sacred by the ordinance of God. 



52 



A Silver Crown. 



"Let every soul be subject to the higher 
powers, for there is no power but from God, 
and the powers that be ordained of God. 
Therefore, he that resisteth the power, resist- 
eth the ordinance of God, and they that re- 
sist, purchase damnation to themselves." The 
Catholic looks upon his loyalty to govern- 
ment as a conscientious duty, he loves his 
country, and no sacrifice is too much for him. 
His country is the symbol of all that is most 
priceless on earth: liberty, truth, honor and 
loyalty. 

One of the bravest of the makers of the 
Declaration of Independence was Charles 
Carroll, a true and loyal son of Holy Church. 
Many were her noble sons, the statesmen and 
warriors, who led the people through the long 
and fierce struggle of the Revolution. We 
owe so much to Columbus, who, out of deso- 
lation and chaos, out of ignorance and dark- 
ness, brought the light of the cross, the sym- 
bol of truth and sacrifice. "All these men 
breathe a lofty and unselfish spirit, which, to 
the end of time, shall thrill every true and 
generous heart. Their work has prospered 
beyond the utmost vision of seers, beyond the 
fondest dreams of poets. The little republic 



Do Catholics make good Citizens? 53 



they founded has grown to be the strongest, 
the most progressive, the most enlightened, 
and the most firmly established civil power in 
the world. In virtue of its constitutional vi- 
tality and assimilative force, it has spread from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Canadian 
border to the everglades of Florida." 

All the hostile criticism of the Catholic in 
this connection rests upon ignorance. No 
man can be disloyal to his government and 
be a good Catholic. Would that our coun- 
trymen would cease to view the Church 
through the dark mists of prejudice and 
bigotry! If they would only consider her 
in the bright sunlight of truth, they would 
find that she is the protector and guardian 
angel of all true liberty. The Declaration of 
Independence declares that "All men are 
created equal." The utterance of this truth 
has been endorsed, the spirit of it followed 
at all times, and the interest of our govern- 
ment has found due verification and con- 
firmation by the Church. Each man has an 
equal voice, and perfect equality, before the 
laws of the land the Church insists upon. 
In her teaching and tendencies are found 
the strongest safeguards for permanence and 



54 



A Silver Crown. 



stability to the sovereign people. She exerts 
an influence over their minds and hearts, in 
the conduct of their affairs; and this train- 
ing, this education, this impartment of true 
and loyal principles every Catholic receives, 
and how can he be anything but a good citi- 
zen; how can a Catholic be anything but an 
honor and a credit to his government and 
country ! 

We claim, therefore, that a man may not 
only be a Catholic and a true American citi- 
zen, but that if he is a good Catholic, he is 
the best and most loyal of citizens. From the 
fact that Catholics owe their allegiance in 
spiritual matters to the chief pastor, the Pope 
of Rome, that is no reason why our enemies 
should make the accusation and say that we 
cannot be loyal to our government and coun- 
try. The authority of the Pope is purely 
spiritual. No Catholic owes him any allegi- 
ance whatever in civil and political matters. 
Should the Pope, for example, in the pre- 
tended exercise of his ecclesiastical power, 
attempt to encroach upon the jurisdiction 
upon a rightly and justly constituted civil 
authority, such action would find imme- 
diate repudiation, because it would be con- 



Do Catholics make good Citizens? 55 

trary to all fundamental principles. Every 
Catholic, without exception, positively will 
tell you that his Church has no power to in- 
terpose in the affairs of government. 

Has not the Catholic Church the right to 
proclaim that she is the only true Church of 
Christ ? In making this proclamation she 
does not interfere with the religious rights 
of others, but she merely claims for herself 
what every ardent Protestant claims for him- 
self. Catholics are a blessing to the coun- 
try in which they live, and you will not find 
them transgressors of the law, but faithful and 
conscientious citizens in general. They take 
an interest in the growth and development of 
their natural or adopted country, as the case 
may be, and loyalty to country is the soul of 
their ambition. 

Catholic genius discovered this country, and 
Catholics took a foremost part in its explora- 
tion and development. The sincere Catholic 
De Soto led the , first expedition across the 
Mississippi; the devoted missionary Mar- 
quette was the first to sail down the mighty 
waters; the undaunted La Salle was the 
pioneer navigator of the Great Lakes, and 
the true and kind-hearted De Smet was the 



56 



A Silver Crown. 



first to carry to the savage tribes of the Rocky 
Mountains the truths of the Christian reli- 
gion. History, too, substantiates that Cath- 
olics took a most prominent part in the in- 
dependence of our American colonies. Many 
noble and deeds most sublime could be enu- 
merated, displaying the greatest fortitude, 
and if all these acts of valor and sacrifice 
already mentioned are not sufficient to convey 
indubitable manifestation of the loyalty of 
American Catholics to their country in the 
hour of its utmost peril, I would kindly refer 
my reader to history, and I feel confident that, 
with mind unbiased, many valorous and sac- 
rificing deeds he will find recorded. 

Winston, a great writer of note, says: "Is 
there a soul so dead to gratitude as to refuse 
homage to the memory of these illustrious 
Catholics, whose names are written over the 
portals of immortal fame, or so base as to 
desire the degradation of their offspring bap- 
tized in the blood of liberty. It is an estab- 
lished fact of history, that the proportion of 
Catholics in the Union armies was double 
the proportion which Catholics bore to the 
whole population of the country. More than 
half a million Catholic soldiers vindicated 



Do Catholics make good Citizens ? 57 

their right to civil and political equality in 
every battle that was fought, in every defeat 
that was suffered, in every victory that was 
won. No blood flowed more freely nor in 
richer torrents than theirs. Foremost to 
volunteer, they followed the flag of the Union 
with unswerving loyalty and undaunted cour- 
age from the firing on Sumter to the surrender 
at Appomattox." 

Concluding, any fair-minded individual can, 
and even with great facility, ascertain, that 
the Catholic is not hostile to his country be- 
cause in matters religious he shows allegiance 
to the vicar of Christ upon earth, but from 
the very fact that he is a good and practical 
adherent of his Church, the better citizen he 
makes. The Catholic's loyalty to his govern- 
ment is a spontaneous act of love as well as 
of duty, and where a question of performing 
his duty arises, he will be found at his post, 
for his country is to him all that is most price- 
less on earth, i. e., liberty and loyalty. 



58 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TOWARD OUR 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

I 7E are to understand that the Catholic 



V \ Church has no designs on the public 
schools. Any person who is satisfied with 
the present system, she will not interfere 
with, will leave them as they are for those who 
wish them; but for her own children she 
offers something substantially better, an edu- 
cation which will make them ultimately, 
good, conscientious and useful citizens, which 
will instruct them in all the principles of 
morality, which indeed are indispensable in 
forming them into characters most honorable 
and praiseworthy. 

Education, to be complete, must comprise 
all the influences which go to form the char- 
acter, and the principles which should bring 
out these necessary educational features are 
to be sought in human nature. Sound and 
complete education is symbolized by a tree. 




The Church toward Public Schools. 59 



A little seed, which contains the design of the 
tree, its form and proportions, is placed in 
the soil. See how it germinates and expands 
into trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruit 
The whole tree is an uninterrupted chain of 
organic parts, the plan of which existed in 
its seed and root. The education of man 
must be similar to the tree. 

The various faculties, or capacities, which 
await development in man, are classed as 
physical, mental and moral. To meet the 
ends of life, the body must grow, the mind be 
developed, and the moral nature trained. We 
Catholics know that we have been born to 
live two lives, a material life upon this earth 
and an eternal life in the hereafter. We are 
born into this world under the greatest disad- 
vantages as to both. An education must be 
imparted, therefore, that will fit us for both; 
we must become good and useful members, 
noble and creditable citizens on earth, and 
by our good deeds upon earth, saints in heaven. 

Not only must the child be instructed in 
secular knowledge, which will give it many 
advantages over the person deprived of this 
knowledge in the struggles of life; but the 
child needs more than a secular knowledge. 



60 A Silver Crown. 



It must also be taught about God, and the 
many duties incumbent upon its chosen state 
of life, about the eternal truths, before it can 
appreciate its heavenly calling. The public 
schools only educate the child partly; there 
is a deficiency of education, since the moral 
side of the child's nature is not educated. We 
find many persons in our time who consider 
an education complete when they are able to 
read and write, when they have some knowl- 
edge of arithmetic, of history and of geog- 
raphy. Such is never a complete, or what 
we may call a sound, education; even if a 
person were well versed in the sciences, the 
moral feature or religious side is lacking. 

Great writers on this subject have beauti- 
fully said, that religion is designed to improve 
the nature and frailties of man in order to 
secure the right governing of our actions, and 
the peace and progress, external and internal, 
of individuals and communities, and to ren- 
der us capable of a more sublime state, en- 
titled the kingdom of God, to which the pres- 
ent life is simply probationary. This is re- 
ceived on its own evidence by. all those who 
have truth in view; for while the object of 
education may be said to be to fit and pre- 



The Church toward Public Schools. 61 



pare the young for the right performance of 
the duties that are to devolve upon them in 
this life, yet the nature and character of these 
duties can only be rightly understood, or their 
importance properly estimated, when this 
life is viewed as a preparation for a future 
and higher state of existence. Our conduct 
here must be directed with a view to this great 
future, if we would have it directed aright, 
and no system of education can be complete 
or perfect in which this is overlooked or 
ignored. 

As this life is a preparation for eternity, so 
is education a preparation for this life; and 
that education alone is sound and complete, 
therefore valuable, which answers both these 
primary objects. Man is a religious and moral 
being as well as an intellectual being, and 
this part of his nature requires to be educated 
and trained as well as every other to complete 
full development. The heart of man, there- 
fore, must be educated. Religion is indis- 
pensable. "If you search the world," says 
Plutarch, "you will find cities without walls, 
without letters, without kings, without money; 
but no one ever saw a city without a deity, 
without a temple, or without prayers." 



62 



A Silver Crown. 



It is indeed a necessity of man's nature, in 
its imperfect and sinful state, to have some 
being higher and more perfect to look up to, 
honor and adore. Does not every true man 
feel that he is himself made higher by giving 
honor, reverence and adoration to God? 
The general goodness of education is not 
tested by the quantity of knowledge, or, in 
other words, by the amount a man knows, 
but it is tested by the capacity for using your 
knowledge in the various educational phases. 
The honest, the truthful, the upright man, 
he who knows how to keep all his desires and 
passions under due control he who has his 
physical, mental and moral powers in proper 
action, is truly an educated man. 

In the education of youth, forming the 
manners and character is much more neces- 
sary than furnishing their minds. The youth 
in after life will reap more from having ac- 
quired the great art of managing his temper, 
governing his passions, and guiding his weak- 
ness, than he could expect from the best 
acquaintance with all the systems of ancient 
and modern philosophy. There are many 
young men who leave school and college full 
of the learning of the ancient Greeks and 



The Church toward Public Schools. 63 



Romans, who, as regards the use of high- 
sounding phrases, may be profound, but in 
the use of his senses he may be far inferior 
to the most humble laborer. 

The knowledge of the different branches of 
learning tends to cultivate and form your 
mind, but you must also remember, that the 
most and important business is, to form your 
heart, that is, to make you a good and honest 
man. If a person, although possessed of the 
finest understanding and greatest knowledge, 
should be devoid of truth, cruel, proud, 
covetous, and impure, he will be hated and 
detested by every human creature, and shun- 
ned like a wild beast. Washington, in his 
Farewell Address, has warned us, that reason 
and experience both forbid us to expect that 
national morality can prevail in exclusion of 
religious principles. Gladstone has said the 
same of England. Other great men have 
expressed themselves in a similar strain, and 
for the matter of that, though so easily lost 
sight of, it is almost a self-evident proposition. 

It is a plain fact that the public schools are 
neglecting the principal and most important 
side of education, and that is the moral side; 
conscience and heart are not educated. If 



64 



A Silver Crown. 



the hearts and consciences of our infidels, 
socialists and anarchists, even of our crim- 
inals, were educated, we would behold them 
ideal Christian men. The highest truths that 
we know of are those of faith and religion; 
now in the public schools nothing is said 
about these truths, nothing is heard of God, 
that he is the rewarder of the good and pun- 
isher of the wicked, nothing is said about 
obeying the commandments of God, nothing 
is said about the offerings that man must 
bring, and the sacrifices he must make in 
order to gain, one day, the crown of eternal 
felicity. 

The public schools engender a certain en- 
thusiasm, which springs from a groundless 
assumption that theirs is the most perfect 
system hitherto conceived; and this impres- 
sion is sedulously cultivated in the minds 
of the children attending and of the public 
at large, with a corresponding contempt of 
the parochial schools. This great esteem that 
they have for their public schools, and the 
correspondingly great contempt for the paro- 
chial schools, have not the slightest reason 
for existence. Our parochial schools are 
maintained at many sacrifices. They are 



The Church toward Public Schools. 65 

indispensable to the preservation of the Cath- 
olic faith in the hearts of our children. The 
parochial schools are the hope and the main- 
stay of the Church of the future. We cannot 
neglect the moral training of our children, 
because love, reverence and obedience to 
parents, faithful adherence and true devoted- 
ness to Church, sublime manifestation of 
glory and duty to God, are perpetuated in this 
nursery of the Catholic Church. 

Thus the public schools are not looked 
upon by us with any hostility of sentiment, 
but we simply regard the education imparted 
to its children as incomplete, because along 
with physical and intellectual training, we 
must likewise have a moral and religious 
training. We must be made acquainted with 
the duties we owe to God and man. The 
great and universal law of charity should be 
implanted in the heart of every creature of 
God, thus making it apparent that we are 
not only intellectual beings, but moral and 
religious as well. 



66 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER XI. 

CAN WE PROVE THAT THERE IS A GOD ? 

IT is desired in first order to give a convinc- 
ing proof of this proposition by natural 
ways. Reason itself teaches us the neces- 
sity of a first being, one who created all things. 
When you behold the beautiful order of 
things in nature, it is likewise a natural point 
of proof that there is a God, and further- 
more, we have the belief of all nations and 
this does not leave any doubt in this regard. 
It is a natural proof of the existence of God. 
This manifestation of God to us by natural 
agencies and forces we cannot deny. We 
must admit the necessity of a first being. 
Matter is not eternal, so there was a time 
when this world of ours did not have any 
existence. 

Giving due consideration to all the ani- 
mated beings inhabiting this world, we are 
obliged to go back to a first cause, the prin- 
ciple of all others which descends from it, and 



Can we prove that there is a God ? 67 

which is as the first link of a long chain. 
There was a time when the sun, the moon, 
the stars, the beautiful firmament, the im- 
mense seas, this magnificent and scenic world, 
the men and the animals that live upon this 
earth, the plants and flowers that cover and 
embellish it, did not have any existence. 

All these wonders of nature, the human 
soul with the many thoughts and sentiments 
which it forms, are so many different ways 
by which God manifests Himself to man by 
natural ways, because the very nature of these 
beings compels us to go back to God as their 
author. Many proofs are furnished us by 
the visible world. Every effect we under- 
stand must have a cause; all that exists can- 
not owe its existence to some other; there 
must be a primary cause, a being from which 
all others flow. I may take any being as an 
illustration, and I am compelled to admit 
that this being is the effect of another having 
a principle and primary cause as the foun- 
dation of its existence. 

No matter how long a series of beings we 
imagine, each depending on the other for its 
existence, we must finally come to one which 
receives its being from no other. The first 



68 



A Silver Crown. 



cause, then, is God, and He is infinitely per- 
fect. He must necessarily exist as the first 
cause. We will admire the beautiful order 
of things in the universe and see for ourselves 
how everything is regulated, even to the 
smallest details. We will prove that the spec- 
tacle of the universe, and the admirable order 
which prevails, manifest the hand of a Su- 
preme Disposer. The harmony of nature, 
all the wonders which without interruption 
strike our eyes, cannot be explained except 
by the action of an intelligent cause, which 
is God. 

Behold the sun, the moon and the stars, 
pursuing their course in space, without ever 
deviating from the route that has been traced 
out for them! In the silence and stillness of 
night we raise our eyes to heaven and with 
admiration we gaze upon innumerable stars, 
we admire the lustre and brilliancy they send 
forth. What hand, dear reader, do you 
think set those brilliant orbs in the immensity 
of space ? 

Day after day the sun rises, it gladdens the 
hearts of the people on earth by the benefi- 
cent warmth of its rays; rising in the east and 
setting in the west with clock-like regularity. 



Can we prove that there is a God? 69 

The earth is placed at a proper distance from 
the sun in order to be lighted and heated 
by its fires without being consumed. What 
power, dear reader, do you think regulates 
the life-giving and heat-producing agency ? 
Ravished by admiration on a beautiful night 
we behold the beautiful moon diminishing the 
obscurity of the night by turning its illumi- 
nated face earthward. Through whose love 
and kindness, dear reader, do you think this 
magnificent and wonderful effect is produced ? 

We ask then, who has established among 
beings this admirable order. If from the 
effect we go back to the cause, we must ad- 
mit that a work so full of wisdom has an 
author perfectly wise. An infinitely perfect 
being, therefore, exists, and this being is God. 
When we consider the unchangeable order of 
the seasons and the uninterrupted succession 
of days and nights, which mark out for us 
the times for labor and rest, all going on with 
splendid regularity, we must bow in adora- 
tion. 

Numberless multitudes of plants, flowers, 
trees and animals adorn the earth, one more 
beautiful than the other! Ornament and 
grandeur on every side. The wonderful 



70 



A Silver Crown. 



structure of the animals lend charm and as- 
tonishment, so many kinds with great diver- 
sity of hue, so beneficial and useful to man, 
rendering much service for our wants and 
amusements. The nourishment necessary to 
their existence seems to their nature inborn, 
a wonderful instinct of self-preservation dis- 
playing; the care and shelter they afford 
their young we cannot but wonder at. Birds 
at the approach of winter leave for a warm 
and more suitable climate; at the coming of 
spring they return, and so they continually 
pass into a region either warmer or colder, 
according to the seasons of the year. 

Finally, in speaking of the beautiful order 
of things in nature, by which we are proving 
the existence of God, we will yet consider 
man, the king and master-work of creation. 
His very mien proclaims him ruler of earth; 
for, while the animal walks with looks 
directed earthward, man freely casts his eyes 
in all directions. Behold the beauty, the 
symmetry, the harmony and perfection in 
the economy of the human body! How can 
we help admiring the soul of man with the 
faculties of memory, will and understanding; 
the memory so faithfully retains the impres- 



Can we "prove that there is a God? 71 

sions of the past; the will, which has a predi- 
lection for that which is good and an abhor- 
rence for that which is evil ; the understanding 
comprehends that which is right and true, 
and discovers that which is wrong and false. 
Man alone is able to penetrate in thought 
beyond the corporal world, and reach the 
invisible truth. Animals are subjected to a 
blind and irresistible instinct; man, however, 
has reason for a guide. Man is really the 
crown of the visible edifice of the world; 
the rest are all subordinate to him; he is the 
master of creation. Knowing all this, can 
anyone refuse to acknowledge the hand of 
God in this wonderful work of creation, un- 
folding itself before our eyes ? 

There is a God, then, in spite of Atheism, 
for we have seen that the primary cause and 
author of the universe is as distinct from the 
universe as an architect is from the edifice 
which he has built. A man may say that the 
little bird singing in the woods comes from an 
egg, and that this egg comes from another bird, 
and this bird again from another egg, which 
may be repeated a great number of times. 

He will finally be obliged to admit, if he 
wants a solution or explanation satisfactory 



72 



A Silver Crown. 



to his question, that there is a primary cause 
of these living creatures, and this primary 
cause is God, who created them. 

Furthermore, the existence of God is at- 
tested by the testimony of all nations, ancient 
and modern; all the nations thus far that 
have left the slightest traces in history, had 
their temples, altars, a public worship, a be- 
lief in a deity, who will reward or punish men 
after this life. Many were deceived as to 
the nature and attributes of God, but it is 
nevertheless true that always and everywhere 
men have adored a deity. Alike in his savage 
as in his civilized state, the heart of man nat- 
urally craves for some object of worship. 
Even in his lowest, most ignorant, and blinded 
condition, we ever find him with some object 
to which he pays divine honor, and which in 
his imagination he invests with powers and 
faculties superior to his own. All Pagans and 
savages believed in the existence of a deity in 
spite of the fables with which they disfigured 
the truth. 

Such unanimity is a proof of the truth of 
the existence of God, and we would have to 
consider a person bereft of all reason who 
would refuse to believe in the existence of 



Can we prove that there is a God? 73 

God. A universal and constant fact must 
have a general and efficacious cause. This 
proves the existence of God by natural ways, 
and may it be briefly stated that God has also 
revealed himself to man in a supernatural 
manner, by his prophets and by His divine 
Son. 

That there is a God is the first truth of the 
Apostles' Creed: "I believe in one God." 
The belief in the existence of God is an article 
of faith and the fundamental article at that, 
because the entire construction of Christian 
doctrine rests upon this truth of all truths. 
The apostle says, "It has pleased his wisdom 
and goodness to have made Himself known 
by another, and that a supernatural way, to 
reveal Himself and the eternal decrees of 
His will to the human race;" and says, 
''God, who at sundry times and in divers 
manners spoke in times past to the fathers, 
last of all in these days, hath spoken to us by 
His Son." 



74 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ARE CATHOLICS FORBIDDEN TO READ THE 

BIBLE ? 

BY the word Bible we comprehend the 
books of the Old and New Testaments. 
This, then, constitutes the Holy Scripture, 
which is also known as the Word of God. 
The Bible is regarded by the Church not 
merely as authentic and truthful, but also as 
inspired, or written by the special assistance 
of the Holy Ghost. There exists no doubt 
that the holy scriptures are essentially the 
word of God, inspired by the Holy Ghost. 
The books are in consequence of divine ori- 
gin, not merely in this sense that they contain 
without error the revealed doctrines of God, 
but also that God Himself is their principal 
author. 

The various writers were assisted lest they 
might make mistakes in their writings; the 
assistance rendered was also what they should 
write. The principal author, therefore, of 



Are Catholics forbidden the Bible? 75 

the Bible is God. The deposit of the holy 
scriptures the Church has received from God, 
and if there is aught that she wishes and that 
she has at heart, it is to see her children nour- 
ished with the teachings of holy scripture, 
and meditating its inspired oracles. 

It is a base calumny on the part of our en- 
emies to make the statement that the Cath- 
olic Church is opposed to the reading of the 
Bible. For fifteen centuries the Church was 
the sole guardian and depositary of the Bible; 
considerable labor did it cost the Church to 
preserve and to maintain intact the holy scrip- 
tures. The Church, being in possession of 
these books ever since their origin, has fought 
her cleverest and most furious enemies, who 
tried to overthrow the authority of the Old 
and New Testaments. 

Our adversaries pretend that these books 
were composed by writers of a later date. 
The Church has proven repeatedly that these 
books have not undergone any substantial 
alteration, because such a corruption has al- 
ways been impossible, and it is positively 
evident that it never has taken place. All 
this would have been impossible during the 
lifetime of the apostles, and under their super- 



76 



A Silver Crown. 



vision. Great protestation against any such 
act would have been made by the apostles; 
such corruption would not have been pos- 
sible after the death of the apostles, because 
of the dissemination of copies and the vigi- 
lance of their successors. The Church has 
always been very watchful. 

Learned men, now dead, and frequently 
abused by thoughtless and malicious men, 
worked incessantly with their pens in copy- 
ing the Holy Bible. When one of these able 
minds passed to his reward, another would 
take up the task and work like a faithful sen- 
tinel over the treasure of God's word. We 
cannot say otherwise, from the careful inves- 
tigation and custody, that the respect and 
love priests and true Catholics have for the 
Bible is insurpassable. Jesus is the manna 
hidden in the scriptures. Happy are those 
who search for it and find it! That soul we 
can call happy who, by the light of the Holy 
Church and of the true faith, and in a spirit 
of piety, love, and sanctification, searches the 
adorable word of God; and from it, as well as 
from the sacrament of the altar, obtains 
substantial food of true and solid piety! 

At all times and in all places the Catholic 



Are Catholics forbidden the Bible? 77 

Church has practically shown her love and 
respect for the holy scriptures, and we see 
from the foregoing that her love and respect 
in this regard is equal to that of the Blessed 
Sacrament. The Catholic Church alone gives 
us a sure guarantee to the Bible. St. Augus- 
tine emphatically declares, "For my part, I 
should not believe the Gospel, were I not 
moved thereto by the authority of the Cath- 
olic Church." Consider, too, how the Church 
for ever so many years engaged the time and 
talents of her most learned men in translating 
and transcribing these sacred books. 

Catholics are not forbidden to read the 
Bible in their own language. On the con- 
trary, they are encouraged to read and study 
it. We are reminded that the holy scriptures 
have been given to us for our salutary direc- 
tion in this life. It should be to us a book of 
usefulness and comfort; it should be to us 
an example and impetus to the performance 
of kind and charitable acts; a consolation and 
solace in the hour of grief and affliction. In 
all our seminaries the study of scripture is 
looked upon as the most important study of 
Theology. 

Every priest is compelled to recite the di- 



78 



A Silver Crown. 



vine Office daily, and in this divine Office 
he finds ever so many lessons and homilies; 
a priest, too, every morning and evening, 
uses for the guidance of his soul books of 
meditation; in these books you will constant- 
ly find quotations from the holy scriptures. 
There are prayers before and after Mass as 
a preparation and thanksgiving for the cele- 
bration of this divine mystery. All this brings 
the Bible constantly before his mind and 
heart. 

While the Church has at all times labored 
most faithfully and diligently for the diffu- 
sion of the Word of God, at the same time 
there is incumbent upon the Church a duty 
and a right, to see that her children are not 
led astray by such editions of the Bible which 
are not authentic. The holy scriptures are 
the word of God. All Protestants are sincere 
enough to admit this fact. The Church re- 
jects private interpretation as a teaching not 
only detrimental, but dangerous as well. In 
allowing everyone to interpret the scriptures 
according to his own whim and fancy, the 
holy scripture, instead of being to such the 
word of God, is but their own invention of 
what they believe to be, a legitimate and in- 
spired interpretation. 



Are Catholics forbidden the Bible? 79 



Such persons are bound to fall into error 
and a maze of perplexities. They often 
change their interpretations. St. Paul says 
of these, "tossed to and fro, and carried about 
with every mind of doctrine." (Ephesians 
iv, 14.) St. Peter warns us of this danger 
when, referring especially to the Epistles of 
St. Paul, he says, "In which are certain things 
hard to be understood, which the unlearned 
and unstable wrest, as they do also the other 
scriptures, to their own destruction." 

This principle, then, of private interpre- 
tation is very dangerous, and by it every in- 
dividual is emboldened to prefer his own 
private interpretation to the solemn interpre- 
tation of the great teaching body of the 
Church, which is united to the See of St. 
Peter. 

We often hear Protestants make the re- 
mark, "the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing 
but the Bible." With them the Bible is the 
whole religion. Go to the Bible, is their cry, 
and find faith and salvation. This is indeed 
a false principle, and a person may at first be 
tempted to think that Protestants accept this 
saying with all reverence and carry out its 
behests; but nothing of the kind is done. If 
a person will only open the sacred books, he 



80 



A Silver Crown. 



will find many glaring contrasts between the 
sacred text and the Protestant doctrines. 

The ministers separated from the one true 
faith of Christ say, "The Saviour never 
meant to give His own flesh for our food. 
This is simply a great mistake made by the 
Catholic Church. It is their own doctrine, 
by themselves fabricated. Well! we will ex- 
amine more closely. What does our Lord 
say ? "I am the bread of life: he that cometh 
to me, shall not hunger ... I am the bread 
of life . . . This is the bread descending 
down from heaven; that if any one eat of it, 
he may not die ... If any one eat of this 
bread, he shall live forever: and the bread 
which I will give, is my flesh for the life of 
the world . . . He that eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and 
I will raise him up at the last day." 

The ministers also say, "God alone for- 
gives sins. Man has received no power to 
forgive sin. It is not necessary, in fact it 
is useless, to confess your sins to a priest; we 
must confess to God alone." The sacred 
text says, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose 
sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; 
and whose sins you shall retain, they are 



Are Catholics forbidden the Bible? 81 

retained." They say, "Justification and sal- 
vation are to be obtained only by faith. It is 
useless to perform good works; they are in no 
way efficacious unto salvation." St. James 
says, "What shall it profit, my brethren, if a 
man say he had faith, but hath not works ? 
Shall faith be able to save him? . . . Even 
so, faith, if it have not works, is dead in it- 
self. . . But wilt thou know, O vain man, 
that faith without works is dead. . . . Was 
not Abraham, our father, justified by works, 
offering up his son upon the altar ? . . . Do 
you see that by works a man is justified; and 
not by faith only." 

If the Bible is the only rule of faith, in fact 
is to be the only guide, what would be the 
use of spending vast sums of money for mag- 
nificent edifices; why do Protestant min- 
isters preach and have their Sunday-schools ? 
It would not at all be necessary for their 
people to come to church, if the Bible is a 
sufficient guide. 

The Bible for many centuries existed but 
in scattered fragments, we must not suppose 
that it was always the beautifully bound book 
as it now exists. Many books, too, were in 
circulation that went under the name of the 



82 



A Silver Crown. 



holy scriptures, but they were simply coun- 
terfeits. The Catholic Church, which enjoys 
the mark of being apostolic, in early times 
gathered the genuine fragments, formed these 
into a neat and compact whole; she sepa- 
rated the true from the false. How can a 
person really hold to a private interpretation 
of the Bible, when these sacred books were 
originally written in Greek and Hebrew; 
much work was required in the first place in 
the translation, and before any person could 
be sure that the translation is correct, he 
would have to be thoroughly acquainted with 
these ancient languages; this translation he 
would have to compare with the original 
languages. What an immense difficulty would 
not all this present. Only a few would be 
able to understand those languages; they 
would thus constitute but a small portion; 
whereas if aught is to be our guide, and a 
competent guide, it would have to be clear 
and intelligible, so that none could err, and 
at the same time be within the reach of all. 

What would have become of the early 
Christians, if the Bible had been their guide ? 
The Church did not frame her canon of scrip- 
ture till the fourth century and declared the 



Are Catholics forbidden the Bible? 83 

Bible the genuine word of God. In the 
fifteenth century Gutenberg invented print- 
ing. Now, if we take all these years up to the 
invention of printing, we can judge the im- 
possibility of furnishing everyone with a 
Bible; all the copies to be furnished would 
necessitate tedious copying, which work would 
be impossible of accomplishment. At that 
time only about three hundred copies existed 
throughout all Christendom. 

Furthermore, there are so many in this 
world, who do not receive the advantages of 
an education, and if the Bible were their only 
guide, these poor souls would have a meagre 
chance of gaining the desired end. Many, 
then, are inaccessible to the Bible, because 
they are incapable of reading the sacred books. 
This teaching of private interpretation would 
in consequence, not only make man's salva- 
tion difficult, but impossible likewise. 

Most conscientiously must we guard against 
the danger of which St. Paul speaks, that 
there are many things, which the unlearned 
and unstable wrest to their own destruction. 
We are told by St. Peter that there are certain 
things in the Epistles of St. Paul hard to be 
understood. If you will refer to the Acts of 



84 



A Silver Crown. 



the Apostles, we are told concerning a certain 
man, riding in his chariot, reading the book 
of Isaiah, was asked by St. Philip whether he 
understood the meaning of the prophecy, 
whereupon the young man responded, "How 
can I understand unless some man show me ?" 
We learn from this that the young man, in 
the Acts of the Apostles spoken of, did not 
believe in any private interpretation, but 
even admits that he is incapable of under- 
standing the sacred text without instruction. 

The Church is a good and kind Mother; 
it is her mission to lead all unto salvation. 
There is in the Church a teaching authority, 
whose purpose is not to deceive us but to 
enlighten. She is the divine oracle, the 
standard of authority. She does not, there- 
fore, forbid the reading of the Bible, but 
simply desires to give her children this divine 
food with great prudence. She has laid down 
some wise and salutary rules, not for the pur- 
pose of preventing her children from the 
reading of these sacred books, but simply to 
avert all danger. Great instruction and 
much edification is to be gained in the read- 
ing and study of the holy scriptures, but all 
this should be done in a spirit of submission 



Are Catholics forbidden the Bible ? 85 

to the Catholic Church, because she was the 
sole guardian of the scriptures for fifteen 
hundred years; she does not want us to prefer 
our own private view to the known interpre- 
tation and teaching of the Church of the liv- 
ing God, the pillar and ground of the truth, 
as St. Paul says in the letter to St. Timothy. 

At all times, then, we should not be wanting 
in respect and veneration for these sacred 
writings, because they have God for their 
author. 



86 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CATHOLICS MAKE TOO MUCH OF MARY? 

THIS is an objection that I, in my ex- 
perience as a Catholic and priest, have 
frequently met and answered. We Cath- 
olics are told by Protestants that the devotion, 
veneration and affection we manifest to the 
Virgin Mary is superior to the honor and 
homage we pay to God Himself; that our 
great reverence for Mary diminishes our 
gratitude to God. Protestants were never 
educated to love and revere Mary ; never were 
they taught to study this beautiful character, 
the sweetness and purity of her life, the great 
part that she took in the redemption of man, 
her intimate relationship to God, the noble 
and praiseworthy example she has given the 
adopted children of God by grace for our 
imitation, to secure eternal happiness. 

Why is it that Protestants look upon Mary 
simply as some renowned character, because 
their curiosity is excited; yet they are not 



Catholics make too much of Mary ? 87 

animated by any sentiments of love, devo- 
tion and piety. They give Mary no serious 
contemplation. To them Mary is a figure 
of history, and an emblem of Catholic wor- 
ship. Such, then, cannot appreciate the sen- 
timents, the filial affection of the sincere 
and devout Catholic. Why, too, Protestants 
simply look upon Mary as some renowned 
character is, because they were never taught 
to behold Mary as she really was and as 
she is. The practice of veneration and devo- 
tion is of Catholic origin. 

"As the Catholic cherishes the crucifix as 
the emblem of martyred faith, so, too, does 
he cherish the remembrance of Mary as the 
origin of the incarnation of our Saviour. 
The one represents life and birth, the other 
faith and death. These two sacred periods 
of existence receive the strongest veneration 
known to the Catholic faith. The picture of 
the sainted Mother fills the heart with love 
and affection, while the cross is that deeper 
feeling which stirs the soul in its adoration 
of God. Deny these cherished representa- 
tives of life and death, and you destroy the 
beauties of the Catholic worship of God. 
Deny the cross of crucifixion, and you deny 



88 



A Silver Crown. 



Jesus Christ, who surrendered His life for 
the salvation of man. Deny the Virgin Mary, 
and you deny His existence as the Son of God." 
This relation between the Son of God and 
His blessed mother Mary is thus beautifully 
treated in that sublime work entitled "Chris- 
tian Persecutions," and mention is likewise 
made that Protestant parents do not teach 
their children anything concerning the purity, 
holiness, and that Mary was conceived with- 
out sin. 

Honor and veneration is due to the Virgin 
Mary, because the archangel Gabriel calls 
her "full of grace," and because of her in- 
comparable dignity of being chosen mother 
of Jesus Christ. She is favored by the Cath- 
olic Church as the most eminent of all her 
creatures, as one highly exalted above all 
men and angels; we honor Mary, therefore, 
as the most blessed among women. The 
words of the Canticle are applied to her: 
"Thou art all fair, O my love; and there is 
not a spot in thee." Not the least stain ad- 
hered to her angelically pure soul. Never 
during her whole life did she commit even a 
venial sin, and the grace with which God had 
adorned her in the very first instant of her 



Catholics make too much of Mary. 89 

conception, she preserved inviolably to her 
last breath. 

Gabriel would never had pronounced Mary 
"full of grace/' if she had been deprived of 
grace during a single instant of her existence; 
if she, the pure lily of the valley, the true 
morning star, had not from the beginning 
shone with an ever pure and brilliant light. 
These beautiful and heavenly words of Ga- 
briel convey the meaning that Mary pos- 
sessed all the gifts of heaven, that her sweet 
soul was filled with an abundance of justice 
and charity, and that she was by an especial 
privilege the greatest of all the wonders that 
ever came from the infinite power of God, 
His most chosen and admirable work, in fact, 
the masterpiece of His grace. Mary herself 
prophetically exclaimed, "All generations 
should call me blessed, because He that is 
mighty had done great things to me." This 
prediction has ever since been fulfilled by 
the children of God, and will continue to be 
fulfilled until the end of time. 

By being extolled in the highest terms in 
sacred scripture, and possessing the full real- 
ity of those glorious privileges ascribed to 
her, Mary is not only proposed to her chil- 



90 



A Silver Crown. 



dren as an object worthy of their profoundest 
veneration, but she is even elevated above all 
praise. After considering what is said of her 
in all the sacred depositaries of our faith, every- 
one should readily acknowledge that all our 
efforts to extol her glory, compared with that 
glory itself, are but the faint language of im- 
potent admiration, and far below the dignity 
to which she has been raised and the honor 
she deserves. 

From the very beginning of Christianity, 
the Church has entertained the highest sense 
of respect and devotion for the Blessed Vir- 
gin. St. Cyril, one of the most saintly and 
prominent of the ancient fathers of the Church, 
who presided at the Council of Ephesus in 
the name of the Pope, in one of his sermons 
which he delivered, addressed the Virgin 
Mary in the following words: " We hail Thee, 
O Holy Mother of God, who art the living 
temple of the Godhead, the precious treas- 
ure and light of the world, the crown of vir- 
ginity, the scepter of the orthodox faith. 
Praise be to thee, who didst bear in thy chaste 
womb Him whom the universe cannot con- 
tain; Virgin Mother, through whom the Holy 
Trinity is glorified and adored, the precious 



Catholics make too much of Mary ? 91 

cross is honored all over the earth, the angels 
and the archangels rejoice, the demons are 
expelled, fallen man is reinstated in his claims 
to the eternal inheritance, idolatry is de- 
stroyed, and every creature comes to the 
knowledge of the truth; through whom the 
prophets have spoken, the evangelists have 
written, and the apostles have carried to the 
gentiles the glad tidings of salvation! What 
shall I say more? Through whom the only 
Son of God shone forth to them that were 
sitting in the darkness and shadow of death. 
And, in truth, what man shall ever be able 
sufficiently to praise her, whom so wonderful 
a dignity renders worthy of all praise?" 

These are the w^ords of that illustrious 
father of Holy Church, not as a mere private 
teacher, but as the interpreter of one of those 
first General Councils which are venerated 
by the generality of Protestants themselves, 
and as the organ of primitive tradition, which 
both he himself and the other bishops pro- 
fessed to follow. 

The blessed Virgin Mary in her relation 
to us is our Mother, she knows and loves all 
her children, she has the power and will to 
assist us, provided we recognize her as our 



A Silver Crown. 



Mother and come to her with a filial heart. 
The Saviour, in His ineffable goodness, gave 
Mary to us when from the cross He addressed 
her these words, "Woman, behold thy son' 5 ; 
and to St. John, "Behold thy mother!" 

There is no mother like Mary; she loves 
us all and knows us intimately. Those who 
are indifferent in their respect and devotion, 
even those who are most ungrateful, she 
knows; she desires the good of all her chil- 
dren for time and eternity. If we will only 
take our recourse to Mary, she will, beyond 
scintilla of doubt, procure peace and happi- 
ness for us. This good mother looks upon the 
wayward soul with admirable kindness, and 
if they, on their part, will not repel her ma- 
ternal hand and refuse to be her children, 
they will certainly experience her love, benev- 
olence, intercession and assistance. We must 
have confidence in Mary and be her devoted 
children. 

The sweet name of Mary signifies lady, 
mistress, queen. She can in all truth be called 
mistress, for the inhabitants of the heavenly 
court do her homage; Jesus Himself was sub- 
ject to her and in the great work of redemp- 
tion, she too, took a most important part. 



Catholics make too much of Mary ? 93 



No request is refused her; hence St. Bernard 
styles her the "omnipotent advocate." 

Protestants seem to imagine that we pay 
divine worship to Mary, because we show her 
respect and veneration, have a true love and 
devotion for this queenly Mother, kneel be- 
fore her shrine; that in so doing we lose 
sight of God, and the worship that should be 
directed to the Divinity is thereby directed 
to Mary. Our devotion to Mary is looked 
upon as a species of idolatry, as a transgres- 
sion of the commandment of God; that by 
our action we certainly incur the displeasure 
of God, because His is robbed of a part of 
the glory due Him. 

Accusations of ignorance are made by them 
concerning us. They do not believe that we 
Catholics can distinguish the relationship 
that exists between the honor and adoration 
we owe God, and the veneration and rever- 
ence due the Virgin Mary. Protestants know 
nothing of the deep and heartfelt gratitude 
that the sincere and devout Catholic feels for 
the mother of Jesus; they cannot compre- 
hend the filial piety of her children, when 
before her statue and at the shrine he kneels 
in supplication. 



94 



A Silver Crown. 



Protestants have no desire to venerate 
the mother of God. There is a coldness re- 
garding Mary which is general amongst 
them; and on account of this they can neither 
see nor feel any affection in the acts of love 
and devotion of others towards this benign 
Mother. 

God Himself honored Mary, His divine 
Son did not disdain to be subject to her, and 
the more honor, love and respect we pay to 
Mary, all this redounds to God Himself, 
who is the source of all praise and glory. 
Cardinal Gibbons, speaking on this point, 
said : 

"As no one who was ever suspected of lov- 
ing his country and her institutions less be- 
cause of his revering Washington, so no one 
can reasonably suppose that our homage to 
God is diminished by our fostering reverence 
for Mary. As our object in eulogizing Wash- 
ington is not so much to honor the man, as 
to vindicate those principles of which he was 
the champion and exponent, and to express 
our gratitude to God for the blessings be- 
stowed on our country through him, even so 
our motive in commemorating Mary's name 
is not merely to praise her, but still more to 



Catholics make too much of Mary ? 95 

keep us in perpetual remembrance of our 
Lord's Incarnation, and to show our thank- 
fulness to Him for the blessings wrought 
through that great mystery in which she was 
so prominent a figure. Experience suffi- 
ciently demonstrates that the better we under- 
stand the part which Mary has taken in the 
work of redemption, the more enlightened 
becomes our knowledge of our Redeemer 
Himself, and that the greater our love for 
her the deeper and broader is our devotion 
to Him; while experience also testifies that our 
Saviour's attributes become more confused 
and warped in the minds of a people in pro- 
portion as they ignore Mary's relations to 
Him." 

The Virgin Mary is the most sublime crea- 
ture of God, and in all our praises of this 
good and kind Mother, in kneeling and in 
reverence before her, we simply manifest 
our regard and high esteem for Mary. The 
blessings of God are bestowed upon us, and 
the greater our honor and praise that we 
give to this handiwork of God, in fact, his 
model of perfection, the greater and more 
bounteous will be our reward. This is in 
answer to the objections that are made by 



96 



A Silver Crown. 



the enemies of this beautiful and holy Mother. 
Our devotions to Mary, they say, are many; 
that we pray hundreds of times to her for 
once to God; that Mary can do nothing for 
us, because she is a finite creature, and in this 
connection is no more than any other crea- 
ture whose power is limited. 

Because Catholics pay devotion to Mary, 
they are accused of being ignorant of the laws 
of God. It grieves them because the Virgin 
Mary is so signally honored throughout all 
Christendom, and this on account of the 
beautiful and most saintly life. Protestants 
in general say: "It is nothing short of idolatry 
to worship Mary. It is lost time to pray to 
Mary. Catholics make too much of Mary; 
they ignore and dishonor God; their acts of 
veneration are displeasing to God." It is 
ignorance on . the part of these Protestants, 
as we have seen, in making such untenable 
accusations. 

We are conscious of our humble station, 
our unworthiness, our wants and necessities, 
therefore, like poor, indigent supplicants, we 
implore Mary's intercession, and pray for 
a relief of our afflictions, the granting of our 
petitions, with a sincere hope of obtaining all 



Catholics make too much of Mary ? 



97 



through her powerful influence with her 
divine Son. 

Listen to the beautiful words of our Amer- 
ican poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: 

"And even as children who have much offended 
A too indulgent father, in great shame, 
Penitent, and yet not daring unattended 
To go into his presence, at the gate 
Speak to their sister and confiding wait 
Till she goes in before and intercedes; 
So men, repenting of their evil deeds, 
And yet not venturing rashly to draw near 
With their requests, an angry Father's ear, 
Offer to her their prayers and their confession, 
And she in heaven for them makes intercession." 

We cannot be too profuse in extolling 
the many virtues and great prerogatives of 
Mary. In all lands she is honored, and with 
fervor we eulogize her merits and graces; 
we are conscious of the immense glory with 
which she has been crowned by her divine 
Son. Mary is indeed our model; her beau- 
tiful portrait is ever before our eyes for our 
contemplation; her name has become a prayer 
on the lips of every devout Catholic. Churches 
dedicated to the Virgin Mary cover the soil 
of every land. Churches are reared under her 



98 



A Silver Crown. 



invocation by the loyal servants of God in 
the holy priesthood and a touching devotion 
to the mother of God is inspired. Our glori- 
ous land, discovered by a devout child of 
Mary, is studded with magnificent churches 
and chapels, shrines and grottos dedicated 
to the Blessed Virgin and placed under her 
special protection. In seminaries and col- 
leges, Sodalities of the Blessed Virgin exist; 
in convents and academies the children of 
Mary number thousands; chapels and homes 
all over the world are adorned with statues 
and images of the Blessed Virgin. What 
house is not decorated with the image of 
Mary ? Little children call out the sweet 
name of Mary. All the exercises in her honor 
are attended with much piety and edification; 
in triumph is she borne to shrines and grottos, 
to places of pilgrimage designed to her honor. 
This country enjoys the privilege of being 
under the powerful patronage of the blessed 
Virgin Mary. 

Columbus, upon disembarking in America, 
named the first island in honor of our divine 
Saviour, calling it San Salvador; the second 
he named in honor of the Blessed Virgin, 
calling it St. Mary of the Conception. 



Catholics make too much of Mary? 99 



Longfellow, in the same legend, pays the 
following tribute to Mary: 

"This is indeed the blessed Mary's land, 
Virgin and mother of our dear Redeemer! 
All hearts are touched and softened at her name; 
Alike the bandit with the bloody hand, 
The priest, the prince, the scholar and the peasant, 
The man of deeds, the visionary dreamer, 
Pay homage to her as one ever present! 

And if our faith had given us nothing more 

Than this example of all womanhood, 

So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good, 

So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving, pure, 

This were enough to prove it higher and truer 

Than all the creeds the world had known before." 

Such, then, is the beautiful and gracious 
tribute paid alike by all good Catholics and 
well-meaning Protestants. She is the noblest 
handiwork of God, she is "full of grace. " 
Mary is called the Virgin who surpasses in 
glory the first of the heavenly powers. Only 
God is above her. Mary is styled the temple 
and throne of the Divinity, the priceless pearl 
of paradise, the mediator between heaven and 
earth. No eulogy is enabled to express her 
incomparable attributes. St. Gregory says 



100 



A Silver Crown. 



of her: "She bloometh in the house of the 
Lord, as a fair olive-tree whom the Holy 
Ghost has made fruitful by the overshadow- 
ing of his grace, and through whom he has 
called us to be children and heirs of the 
kingdom of Jesus Christ. She is that blos- 
soming garden of delights and of immortality 
in which is planted the tree of life, whose 
fruits preserve us from death. She is the 
ornament and honor of virgins, the joy and 
consolation of mothers, the basis of the be- 
lieving, the perfect image of believers, the 
perfect model of the saints. With her dwell 
virtue and truth. She is the living spring 
which bore the Lord, and from which flow- 
eth the life-giving water. All those who 
cherish a sincere devotion to this holy virgin, 
and love her incomparable purity and sanc- 
tity, will enjoy an angelic grace." 



Sins must be confessed to a Priest. 



101 



CHAPTER XIV. 



WHETHER SINS MUST BE CONFESSED TO A 



HILST making a journey in the month 



\\ of June, two years ago, from Buffalo 
to New York, a sincere Protestant who was 
seated beside me, and going on to Albany, 
in the course of conversation on religious sub- 
jects, made the following remark: "I like 
everything about your church but one thing, 
and that is, confession." I explained to him 
every detail concerning this subject; told him 
that no person really likes to go to confession; 
that confession in itself is not pleasant for 
the sinner, but an act necessarily required 
of us by God Himself. Everyone having the 
misfortune to fall into grievous sin after the 
reception of the sacrament of Baptism is 
obliged to use this most suitable and effective 
remedy of obtaining pardon and of being 
reconciled with God. 

Sincere and well-meaning Protestants would 



PRIEST. 




102 



A Silver Crown. 



certainly not object to the practice of con- 
fessing our sins to a validly ordained and duly 
authorized priest if they knew that God in- 
vested man with this power of forgiving sin 
in order that the faithful should kneel at 
the feet of His ambassadors upon earth, tell 
their sins, and to receive his absolution. All 
Catholics firmly believe that this power of 
forgiving sins has been given by God to men, 
because they have the most positive testi- 
mony in substantiation of their belief. Jesus, 
addressing Peter, says, "Thou are Peter, and 
on this rock I will build my church. And I 
will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
earth shall be bound also in heaven, and 
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall 
be loosed also in heaven" (Matt, xvi, 18, 19). 

A hideous stain is left in the soul by sin; 
the soul is thereby deformed, God's friend- 
ship is lost and sin has made us hateful in 
the sight of heaven. Man is conscious that 
the beauty of his soul has been destroyed, 
that by resisting the loving authority of God 
he has been changed from a friend into an 
enemy of His. When he was in honor and 
love he did not understand. Remorse, bitter- 



Sins must be confessed to a Priest. 103 

ness, shame, disquietude and fear in the soul 
has come over him by sin; he has been ren- 
dered a slave of sin, and of his evil desires. 
He says to himself, "I will no longer have my 
soul enchained by sin; I desire to be restored 
to the liberty of a child of God, once again 
to regain his friendship," being mindful of 
the beautiful and reassuring words, "Come 
to Me, all ye that labor and are burdened, 
and I will refresh you" (Matt, xi, 28). 

"There shall be joy before the angels of 
God upon one sinner doing penance" (Luke 
xv, 10). By the judicial power that Christ 
gave to the priests from the words addressed 
to the apostles after His resurrection: "Re- 
ceive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you 
shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and 
whose sins you shall retain, they are retained," 
the penitent soul has the sweet consolation 
and entire satisfaction that a reconciliation 
with God has been effected. 

Objection is frequently made that Christ 
only communicated this power of forgiving 
and retaining sin to His apostles, that the 
priests have no power to forgive sin. That 
this power was not restricted to the apostles, 
but that their successors in the sacred min- 



104 



A Silver Crown. 



istry likewise have received the power is 
clearly manifest from the words spoken to 
the apostles. Bishops and priests are the 
legitimate successors of the apostles. In the 
same manner as the Constitution of the 
United States was not to die out with the 
makers of the same, so the power of forgiving 
sin as the true representative of God in the 
sacred tribunal still abides with the priest. 

The blessings that our forefathers achieved 
by their strenuous hardships, by bleeding 
sacrifices due to their spirit of fortitude, did 
not cease with them, but are enjoyed by us. 
While sin lasted in the world, Christ desired 
that forgiveness of sin was to continue. This 
means, then, to the consummation of time. 
Thus the salutary and effective remedy, acting 
as a balm to a wound, will be always in the 
Church. This remedy will therefore be effec- 
tive if we have a true contrition, meaning real 
sorrow with a firm purpose of amendment, 
even if our sins be as red as scarlet, if they be 
as numerous as the sands along the seashore, 
all will be forgiven, if we will only return to 
God with contrite hearts. 

Thus we see that this power of binding 
and loosing sin extends to all those who sue- 



Sins must be confessed to a Priest. 105 

ceed the apostles in the office of the holy 
priesthood; Christ establishing his means of 
salvation for all ages, and for all men who 
stand in need of them. 

Objection is made that it is entirely un- 
fitting and unreasonable to consider the 
thought that man can forgive sin in the tri- 
bunal of penance. God would not privilege 
man with such power. These should call 
to mind that emperors, kings and presidents, 
lawfully constituted in authority, in the place 
of God govern nations and peoples; the wel- 
fare of the community is intrusted to them. 
Are they not sinful men ? On account of the 
depravity of his fallen nature and also on ac- 
count of the many temptations by which we 
are surrounded, our loving Lord in His in- 
finite mercy instituted this sacrament for the 
forgiveness of sin, and He certainly could 
depute man to forgive sins in His name. 

The words, then, ' 'Peace be to you. As 
the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 
Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you 
shall forgive, they are forgiven them; whose 
sins you shall retain, they are retained," be- 
yond scintilla of doubt, prove that certain 
men He did depute to forgive sins. The sins 



106 A Silver Crown. 



are always forgiven in the name of our Lord 
when forgiveness is granted through the in- 
strumentality or ministration of a priest, who 
acts as minister of God. From the time of 
the apostles to our present time this has been 
acknowledged and accepted by the Catholic 
Church, also by the separated Greek and 
other Oriental schismatical churches, who 
also believe in and practice the sacrament of 
Penance. 

In the sacrament of holy Baptism, like- 
wise, it is always God who forgives, yet the 
minister of God, the priest namely, is the 
instrument He utilizes to dispense that sacra- 
ment of regeneration. This prerogative was 
given, then, to the apostles and their suc- 
cessors, for God says to His chosen ministers, 
"I give you the keys of my kingdom, that you 
may dispense the treasures of mercy to re- 
penting sinners." 

Objection is also made that it is entirely 
useless to confess our sins to a priest; why 
not simply kneel down in your room and con- 
fess to God ? God has willed it so, that con- 
fession must be made to a priest in order to 
receive absolution from sin. St. Augustine, 
a father of the Church, born in the fourth 



Sins must be confessed to a Priest. 107 

century, says in this connection, "Let no one 
say to himself, I do penance to God in private; 
I do it before God. Is it, then, in vain that 
Christ has said, 'Whatsoever ye shall loose 
on earth shall be loosed in heaven' ? Is it 
in vain that the keys have been given to the 
Church" ? 

So we are compelled to take the word of 
God, to use the means he has established 
for our salvation. His consecrated minis- 
ters, then, have been chosen to exercise this 
divine right and heavenly prerogative in the 
sacred tribunal of Penance. Great and as- 
tonishing is this power to man. A great sin- 
ner comes to confession with good disposi- 
tions, he makes his confession to Christ's 
representative; the solemn words of absolu- 
tion are pronounced; in the same instant 
he is pardoned by God. This has always 
been the practice of the Church. Infallible 
in her doctrine, in the holy Council of Trent, 
she declared anathema on everyone who 
would dare to deny that the manner of con- 
fessing secretly to the priest alone, such as the 
Catholic Church observes it and has always 
observed it from the very beginning, is not 
conformable to the institution and to the pre- 



108 



A Silver Crown. 



cept of Christ, but that it is a human inven- 
tion. If we consult the practice of the pre- 
ceding centuries, and go back to the time of 
the apostles; if we consult the writings of the 
most ancient fathers, we shall find con- 
fession practiced everywhere and always ac- 
knowledged as necessary. 

St. Augustine, whom we quoted before in 
another passage of his writings, declares, 
"It is not enough to confess to God; we must 
also confess to those who have the power to 
bind and to loose." St. Basil spoke along the 
same lines: "One must necessarily reveal his 
sins to those who have received the power of 
dispensing God's mysteries." Coming some- 
what closer, St. Cyprian, living in the third 
century, mentions in his works that confes- 
sion is necessary according to the discipline 
established by the Lord. In the second cen- 
tury, Tertullian expresses himself in the fol- 
lowing words: "Will it be more advantage- 
ous to condemn yourselves in hiding your sins 
than to save yourselves in declaring them ? 
To the priests must be made this declaration, 
for to them is granted the power to absolve." 
In the very beginning of Christianity, we 
have the words of St. Clement, who was a 



Sins must be confessed to a Priest. 109 

disciple of St. Peter, exhorting the faithful 
who wish to save their souls not to be ashamed 
to confess their sins to the one who presides 
over the Church, for in being ashamed they 
would not avoid eternal punishment. He de- 
clares that St. Peter himself taught his dis- 
ciples to confess to the priests even their most 
secret thoughts. Finally, in proving that 
confession must be made to the priest, we have 
the words of St. James and St. John, where 
confession is recommended to the faithful; 
and St. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, 
tells us, that a great number of believers 
came to the feet of the apostles to confess 
their sins: "And many of them that be- 
lieved came confessing and declaring their 
sins" (Acts xix, 18). 

How anyone can refuse to acknowledge 
the divine institution of sacramental Con- 
fession and at the same time as a means nec- 
essary for salvation in the face of all these 
proofs; from the fact, too, that it has always 
been believed and practiced by holy Mother 
Church; would be difficult to comprehend. 

Confession, then, instead of incurring God's 
displeasure, is most pleasing and acceptable 
to Him. We are brought in closer union with 



110 A Silver Crown. 



God on account of the purity of our lives 
that good confessions bring on. Take per- 
sons of all ages and conditions of life; how 
many do not owe their piety, their virtue, 
and their honor, to confession! This can be 
seen every day, and it is a matter of facility 
to notice the great difference which exists 
between the morality, rectitude and charity of 
those good souls going to confession and those 
persons who do not go. 

Confession is a powerful protection against 
the passions; it is an efficacious means to 
combat more advantageously the onslaughts 
of the devil through the graces received. 
Peace it brings to the soul, happiness and con- 
tentment of mind. It is certainly a great 
benefit of God, and had its origin only in the 
infinite mercy of its author, being of divine 
institution. With confession, we will find 
joy, peace and happiness in this world, and 
a guarantee of eternal beatitude in the next. 



Priest's Profession a Money Profession ? Ill 



CHAPTER XV. 

IS THE PROFESSION OF THE PRIEST A MONEY 
PROFESSION ? 

IN my travels over the length and breadth 
of our country, more than once have I 
heard the flippant assertion made, that the 
priest, like any other professional man, makes 
money out of his profession. Such remarks 
leave us to infer that priests think little of 
their sublime vocation, the dignity of the 
priesthood and the sublimity of their func- 
tions. When considering such accusation it 
means that the priest has only temporal mo- 
tives in entering upon the ecclesiastical state, 
motives of temporal advantages. 

What are these temporal advantages ? The 
life of a priest is most trying, a life that has 
many cares and hardships. A young man 
who would give all his years of college, his 
years in the study of philosophy and theology, 
finally after successful examinations and of a 
probity satisfactory to his superiors, assuming 



112 



A Silver Crown. 



the responsibilities of the sacred priesthood, 
such a young man would be foolish if he be- 
came a priest for money and other earthly 
goods. The great majority of priests are poor, 
and I know of thousands who receive a scanty 
support; many are even penniless. When 
it is considered, the great amount of work 
he must apply to different branches of study 
in the college and in the seminary, how he 
must devote the best years of his life to these 
pursuits behind the walls of these institutions 
of learning, the numerous sacrifices and mor- 
tifications that must be made in his prepara- 
tion for that signal privilege of becoming a 
dispenser of God's mysteries; would it not 
be a senseless act on his part if he imposed 
upon his shoulders the enormous duties, the 
gravest obligations and most weighty charges, 
simply as a means of making money. A great 
mistake was surely made. 

The priest is not paid for his work, and the 
small amount of salary that those priests 
receive who really do receive what is called 
salary, is nothing when we remember the 
talents and labors requisite in a priest's life. 
The remuneration a priest would have re- 
ceived in devoting but one-half the time to the 



Priest's Profession a Money Profession ? 113 

study of medicine, law and to numerous 
other avocations, specifically taken, is far 
beyond in comparison to the scant support 
of our priests. When a young man prepares 
himself diligently for the holy priesthood, he 
does so because he feels that God has given 
him this holy inclination, and that he has re- 
ceived with it the ability to perform the duties 
of the priesthood. All the faculties of soul 
and body he consecrates to his divine voca- 
tion. He is actuated by a pure motive, his 
inclination to the sublime state proceeds from 
a true intention. There is motive in his mind 
to advance the family. He does not seek his 
own interest nor his own estimation, but his 
sole purpose is to serve God, to increase his 
glory and work for the salvation of souls. 

His time is devoted to study and the prac- 
tice of piety. The Church is very severe in 
this regard. She warns her candidates that, 
whatever they do, ever should they be mind- 
ful of the sublime dignity of the great and 
fearful responsibilities of this holy state; the 
exalted office of the priesthood presupposing 
a divine vocation thereto. It may happen 
occasionally that a candidate takes a low 
view of the priesthood, that he has holy orders 



114 



A Silver Crown. 



conferred upon himself, having no true voca- 
tion, thus defiling the priestly garb calling 
for purity of heart, faithfulness of soul and 
loyalty of mind. Such person who usurps 
the holy state of priesthood without vocation 
commits a grievous sin against God; he does 
a great harm to the Church; and prepares for 
himself a most unhappy time for the rest of 
his life upon this earth and an unhappy 
eternity in the next. 

We know that among the twelve apostles 
there was a traitor who really thought more 
of money than of his sublime dignity of an 
apostle of Christ. We can be grateful to God 
however, that but few are known to become 
priests without being called to this exalted 
office by God, who selects him to be the 
sanctifier of the people and the vicar of Jesus 
Christ. The assertion, therefore, is entirely 
false, that the profession of the priest is one 
of money. 

We find many people, devoid of religious 
sentiments, who do not interest themselves 
concerning their spiritual welfare — though it 
is their principal and all important duty — 
who are not faithful and conscientious in the 
performance of duties incumbent upon their 



Priest's Profession a Money Profession? 115 

state, who easily find fault and are given to 
much criticism regarding others. Such do 
not look upon the priest as the ambassador 
of God, whose pastoral care is everywhere 
loved by good and noble souls, thus manifest- 
ing their love to our divine Saviour. 

Priests are no lovers of money, but the 
money they accumulate is the money of good 
works, the genuine coin that merits the golden 
crown of victory. A priest is the pastor of 
the poor, the father of the orphans and wid- 
ows, and as a loving, most generous friend is 
he to all in deprivation, affliction and be- 
reavement. 

Cardinal Manning beautifully said, "A 
priest is God's almoner. If he has nothing 
of his own, he receives in alms from the hand 
of his Master, and he distributes it again 
to the poor. The old, helpless, and the des- 
titute turn to him as their last hope. What 
Job in his profound humility said no priest 
will dare to say; yet every true priest would 
desire it to be said of him when he is dead: 
'The ear that heard me blessed me, and the 
eye that saw me gave witness to me. Because 
I had delivered the poor man that cried out, 
and the fatherless that had no helper, the 



116 



A Silver Crown. 



blessing of him that was ready to perish came 
upon me, and I comforted the heart of the 
widow. I was an eye to the blind and a foot 
to the lame; I was the father of the poor, 
and the cause which I knew not I searched 
out diligently/ " 

"The poorest man ought to have no fear 
of coming to a priest, for a priest is not his 
own; he belongs to his flock, and everyone 
has a right to him and to his service in the 
charity of Jesus Christ. To be loved by the 
poor is the surest sign a priest can have that 
he is not unlike his Master. For the people 
heard him gladly. Their love is a great re- 
ward. When the world is dark and hostile, 
a priest takes sanctuary among his poor." 

You may have frequently taken notice your- 
self how men and women in all walks of life 
look upon the priest as a true friend; they 
come to him seeking advice and consolation. 
He is ever ready to extend a helping hand to 
the honest and worthy soul. Is it not through 
the work, zeal and kind solicitude of our 
priests that we have numerous institutions 
of philanthropy, benevolence and mercy ? 
Behold the number of orphan asylums, hos- 
pitals and schools which have been estab- 



Priesfs Profession a Money Profession ? 117 

lished by them and are being maintained by 
their faithful cooperation with the assistance, 
too, of their loyal people. Many may re- 
fuse to respect him, but none can help but 
admire him in his ministrations of love and 
kindness. 

Such is the character of our priests whose 
priestly strength is found in their beautiful 
lives, who by their vows of purity, poverty 
and obedience have completely consecrated 
themselves in caring for souls, whose detach- 
ment from things earthly will gain for them 
an imperishable crown. These true and loyal 
shepherds of our soul will gather around the 
Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who in turn 
will gather in the fold upon the everlasting 
hills, all the sheep — his zealous priests, his 
faithful children — a union indeed of pastor 
and flock. 



118 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

WITH DEATH IS ALL OVER? 

THIS saying is very true when we mean 
horses and cows, cats and dogs. We 
humans, however; who are gifted with un- 
derstanding and free will ? having an immor- 
tal soul, expect more than this. God created 
us for a definite purpose, he has placed us 
here that we render service to Him, and by 
this to receive an everlasting crown. The 
reward will be an unchanging home where 
the children of God dwell together in never- 
ending peace and happiness. Infallibly cer- 
tain it is, that all is not over with death; man 
will surely rise again, because we have a 
faithful God and He would not deceive His 
children in what concerns their reward and 
resurrection to eternal life. 

The foundation of our hope is our own res- 
urrection from the dead according to the 
body in the same manner as the foundation of 
our faith is the resurrection of our Lord from 



With Death all is over ? 119 



the dead according to the body. If with 
death all were over, nothing we would have 
that sweetens the sorrows and trials in this 
valley of tears, which might be compared to a 
cemetery where we find arrayed cross upon 
cross. What profit would it be to us to live 
even for a short period amongst the troubles 
of this life, if man had nothing to expect 
beyond the grave, if no hope of living forever 
in heaven could be entertained? To accept 
the many crosses and trials from the hand of 
God with patience, resignation and even with 
cheerfulness would seem altogether impos- 
sible; hardly could you find souls who would 
impose on themselves voluntary penances, 
make sacrifice and practice mortification, if 
indeed with the death of the body nothing 
further could be expected; if it must rot 
forever in the grave and never to receive any 
reward or compensation for its practices of 
self-denial. 

The poor and the persecuted would then 
be most unhappy creatures, for nothing did 
they have whilst on this earthly sojourn. 
How frequently do we not find a good Cath- 
olic, one who is faithful and dutiful in all, 
having much sickness in his family; one of 



120 A Silver Crown. 



his children is stricken by death and shortly 
after another is about to die; the conscien- 
tious man who is poor, yea, very poor, yet 
at the same time very industrious and eco- 
nomical, lives mostly on the borderland of 
beggary; his work is hard and wages are 
small. We might say that the life of such a 
person is one of sighs, afflictions and tears. 

Now, if he had nothing to expect beyond 
the grave in spite of the good, virtuous and 
resigned life to God's holy will, then he 
might say with the fools in the Book of 
Wisdom, "We are born of nothing, and after 
this we shall be as if we had not been. Why, 
then, should we trouble ourselves? Come, 
therefore, and let us enjoy the good things 
that are present. Let none of us go without 
his part in luxury; let us everywhere leave 
tokens of joy, for this is our portion, this is 
our lot." 

But we have an assurance that such is not 
the case, that all those who are the true friends 
of God will rise again to a life of joy, peace 
and happiness. "And we will not have you 
ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are 
asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as 
others who have no hope. For if we believe 



With Death all is over? 121 

that Jesus died and rose again, even so them, 
who have slept through Jesus will God bring 
with Him. For the Lord Himself shall come 
down from heaven with commandment, and 
with the voice of an archangel, and with the 
trumpet of God; and the dead who are in 
Christ, shall rise first. We shall be taken up 
together with them in the clouds to meet 
Christ, into the air, and so shall we be always 
with the Lord. Wherefore comfort ye one 
another with these words" (I Thess. iv, 12, 13). 

That we will rise again and that all is not 
over with death, I will give another proof 
substantiating the truth of our statement 
from the prophet Ezechiel in the thirty-sev- 
enth chapter: "The hand of the Lord was 
upon me, and brought me forth in the spirit 
of the Lord, and set me down in the midst 
of a plain, that was full of bones. And he led 
me about through them on every side: now 
they were very many upon the face of the 
plain, that they w T ere exceeding dry. And he 
said to me: Son of Man, dost thou think these 
bones shall live? And I answered: O Lord 
God, Thou knowest. And he said to me: 
Prophesy concerning these bones; and say 
to them: ye dry bones, hear ye the word of 



122 A Silver Crown. 



the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these 
bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, 
and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon 
you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and 
will cover you with skin: and I will give you 
spirit, and you shall live, and you shall know 
that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as 
He had commanded me : and as I prophesied 
there was a noise, and behold a commotion: 
and the bones came together, each one to its 
joint. And I saw, and behold, the sinews and 
the flesh came up upon them: and the skin 
was stretched out over them; but there was 
no spirit in them. And he said to me: Proph- 
esy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and 
say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: 
Come, spirit, from the four winds, and blow 
upon these slain; and let them live again. 
And I prophesied as he had commanded 
me: and the spirit came into them, and they 
lived: and they stood upon their feet, an 
exceeding great army." 

What God showed to His people in the Old 
Testament in a vision, our divine Lord clearly 
manifests in the gospel of St. John: "Amen, 
amen, I say unto you, that the hour cometh, 
when the dead shall hear the voice of the 



With Death all is over ? 



123 



Son of God. And they that have done good 
things shall come forth unto the resurrection 
of life: but they that have done evil, unto the 
resurrection of judgment. " 

"All this proves that a life will succeed the 
present one and in which God's justice will 
reward virtue and punish vice. A person who 
denies the existence of a future life, denies 
the existence of God. Admitting the existence 
of God, I ask you, where would His justice 
be, also the wisdom of God, if everybody 
were permitted to live according to his own 
caprices; if species of sin, like impurity, 
murder, and injustice were so many indiffer- 
ent acts in the sight of God, and no matter 
what our faults and crimes might be, no 
punishment need to be feared, nor reward 
for our virtues expected. 

No just retribution is meted out in this 
world; we will find that the potent factor is 
money, and so frequently our courts instead 
of being temples of justice, what are they ? 
Oftentimes but a travesty on justice do we 
find them. In this world the holiest souls, the 
most charitable and most edifying persons 
suffer much under the weight of misery. You 
will learn that they are oppressed with sick- 



124 



A Silver Crown. 



ness, deprivation, affliction and even igno- 
miny, while those souls are elevated to hon- 
ors, who lead sinful lives. 

Go back to the beginning of the world, 
says a famous writer, travel over the whole 
earth; read the history of kingdoms and em- 
pires; listen to those that come from the re- 
motest lands; the immortality of the soul, 
the dogma of a future life has always been, 
as it is still, the belief of all the nations of the 
earth, Catholics and heretics, Christians and 
infidels, Jews and pagans, even the most 
savage tribes, witness to the truth of a future 
life. 

We find many persons who make the asser- 
tion that with death all is over, who are really 
atheists, who try to measure all truths by their 
poor human reason, or, to speak more cor- 
rectly, who deny all truths that might disturb 
them in the enjoyment of forbidden lusts 
and pleasures, saying, "It is impossible to 
comprehend how the soul can again become 
united to the body, when this body has lain 
in the grave for so many years, when it has 
turned into dust and ashes, or when this body 
has been devoured by wild beasts or birds 
of prey, when it sank to the depths of the 



With Death all is over? 



125 



ocean and was there gulped by a shark or 
by some other monster of the sea, so that no 
particle of it remains; how" say they, "can 
such a body ever be restored to its former 
living state ?" 

This is the basis of their argument, and be- 
cause their finite reasoning power cannot grasp 
it the doctrine of the resurrection must be 
false. There are so many things that we 
cannot understand, yet at the same time be- 
cause we cannot understand them it does not 
follow that they do not rest upon a reality 
of truth. Our intellect is but finite, ever so 
many things we have in our own nature that 
we cannot explain, yet they are true, not- 
withstanding our incapability of comprehen- 
sion. If this be so, then, concerning things 
natural, why should there not be many truths 
in the supernatural order far beyond our 
power of comprehension. 

As an illustration in the natural order of 
things, can we* understand how a small seed 
as big as a pea can in course of time by ger- 
mination, development and expansion become 
a mighty oak ? Can you tell us how boughs 
and branches, roots and trunk are formed? 
Can anyone explain to me how it happens 



126 A Silver Crown. 

that I can clearly perceive your voice at a 
distance of more than 500 miles over a long 
distance telephone? We all know that it is 
done, yet no person has ever been able to tell 
us how it is done; why it happens that our 
voices over this vast stretch of 500 miles are 
kept audible and clear, that no impediment 
should mar the possibility of our conversa- 
tion. This, then, is an actual occurrence, 
carried on in the commercial world day after 
day, and if we were to deny it, and say no, 
that cannot be, for we do not understand it, 
people would laugh at us and call us ignorant. 

There is a God in heaven, who can do 
much more than we can understand. We 
must be reasonable, therefore, and not deny 
the existence of anything simply because we 
are not enabled to understand it, not look 
upon something as a deception, because our 
weak intellect cannot grasp it. 

The Son of God has performed wonderful 
things by merely speaking a few words. 
Consider in thought the dead daughter of 
the ruler of the synagogue, the widow's son 
of Nairn, then Lazarus, whose body had al- 
ready begun to decay in the grave. He takes 
the dead daughter of the ruler by the hand 



With Death all is over? 



127 



and He has her to arise. The youth of Nairn 
costs him but a few words. He approaches 
the bier and touches it, saying to the young 
man, "Arise." Regarding Lazarus, He cries 
out with a loud voice for him to come forth, 
and presently the dead man came forth. At 
the death and resurrection of Jesus many 
bodies of the saints, which had already long 
crumbled into dust, and whose ashes had been 
scattered over the earth, came out of their 
graves and appeared living in the city of 
Jerusalem. St. Matthew says, "And the graves 
were opened, and many bodies of the saints 
that had slept arose, and coming out of the 
tombs after His resurrection, came into the 
holy city and appeared to many." Then 
to the servants of God He gave the power 
of raising the dead to life by the bare men- 
tion of His name. 

Why should not Jesus, according to all we 
have just learned, be able to unite our respec- 
tive bodies with our respective souls ? Why 
should He not be able to cite us before His 
judgment seat, although it be beyond our 
comprehension how He will do it? This 
great architect has fashioned the wonderful 
edifice of our body; He has so perfectly in- 



128 



A Silver Crown. 



stituted the various functions of the entire 
organism. Now, if this edifice is destroyed, 
is it not in His power to rebuild? If God 
was able to create something out of nothing, 
why should He not be able to give life again 
to our body after it has crumbled away into 
dust and ashes. 

. This future life, then, is a place where the 
just will be rewarded, and where those who 
are transgressors of God's holy command- 
ments will be punished. Happiness will be 
the portion of the former, an exemption from 
all evil and the enjoyment of every good; on 
the other hand, it will be for the latter, the 
privation of every good and the combination 
of every evil. 

These are truths worthy of our serious 
meditation. One is consoling and the other 
frightful. We therefore should be steadfast 
and immovable ; always abounding in the 
work of the Lord, knowing that our labor 
will not be in vain in the Lord. St. Paul 
says, "Denying ungodliness and worldly de- 
sires, we should live soberly, and justly, and 
godly in this world; looking for the blessed 
hope and coming of the glory of the great 
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Tit. 
ii, 12, 13). 



With Death all is over? 129 



How foolish, therefore, to say that with 
death all is over! Does not everything we 
have quoted tell us of a future life? There 
is, then, a happy and an unhappy eternity. 
Let us not be apathetic nor indifferent on a 
truth so important, upon which so much 
depends! It would be rashness and folly 
unpardonable to neglect our eternal welfare. 
Every one of us is here for a short time and 
within the time that God has allotted us we 
should use our best efforts to perform all the 
good we possibly can, be ever mindful of our 
duty to God and man. 

All is over with death when we mean our 
individual performance of good works upon 
this earth for heaven; yes, w r hen you die 
your part has been played on the great stage 
of this world. Examination then takes place 
whether the part assigned to you by God has 
been well enacted. We should do now, 
therefore, as long as we have time, what we 
would wish to have done then; which would 
indicate that man must be always ready. In 
so doing no surprise could ever then overtake 
us; we would be found prepared; and there 
would be awaiting us the divine life, a bliss- 
ful immortality and a happiness eternal. 



130 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE POPE IS INFALLIBLE, BUT NOT 
IMPECCABLE. 

JT^HE word "infallible" in the Roman 
X Catholic Church has this signification, 
that when the Roman Pontiff speaks ex 
cathedra, or, in other words, when he is in 
the discharge of the office as pastor and 
teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his su- 
preme apostolic authority, he defines a doc- 
trine concerning faith or morals to be held 
by the universal Church, is, through the 
divine assistance promised him in blessed 
Peter, possessed with that infallibility with 
which the divine Redeemer willed that His 
Church should be endowed in defining doctrine 
about faith or morals; and therefore such defi- 
nitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable 
of themselves and not from the consent of the 
Church. 

We hold, therefore, that the pope, under 
the conditions above enumerated, cannot err 



Pope Infallible , but not Impeccable. 131 

in teaching the Church. "This infallibility 
is neither a reward of personal merit nor a 
quality of personal knowledge; it is a pre- 
rogative implied in the office of supreme 
pastor and teacher, and is intended to safe- 
guard both pontiff and Church against error. 
In the exercise of this prerogative the Pope is 
not the recipient of special revelations, nor 
is he inspired as were the writers of sacred 
scripture. He is, however, prevented by the 
divine assistance from teaching erroneous 
doctrine. This infallibility has reference to 
faith and morals. In questions that belong 
exclusively to the domain of natural truth, 
that affect discipline only, that concern tem- 
poral policy and administration, that involve 
merely the changing relations of Church and 
state, the views of the Pope are to be re- 
spected and his decisions obeyed, but in such 
cases it is not held that he is infallible." 

The special function of infallible teaching 
was assigned to Peter as chief Pastor of the 
Church, and consequently belongs to his suc- 
cessors in that office. Hence in the whole 
course of tradition as voiced by the fathers, 
the Roman Pontiff is regarded both theoreti- 
cally and practically as the unfailing source 



132 



A Silver Crown. 



of doctrine, just as he is acknowledged to be 
the center of jurisdiction. Our foundation 
for this belief is found in those passages of 
the New Testament which bear most directly 
upon the organization of the Church. 

The infallibility of the Church is assured 
because Christ is to remain with her all days, 
and the Paraclete is to abide with her forever, 
making her the pillar and ground of truth. 
(Matt, xxviii, 20; John xiv, 16.) But as for 
the government of the Church a visible head 
was appointed, so also for her stability in 
truth and the upholding of that truth among 
men a visible foundation is laid in the rock 
which is Simon, afterward called Peter: "Thou 
art Kepha and upon this Kepha I will build 
my Church" (Matt, xvi, 18). Peter's faith 
is secured by his Master's prayer, in order 
that he may confirm his brethren and feed 
the entire flock of Christ." 

When the Pope acts in the capacity of a 
private teacher there is no question of infalli- 
bility, but this infallibility is only then guar- 
anteed to him when acting in his official ca- 
pacity, and when it is a question of faith and 
morals. This infallibility, being restricted to 
matters of faith and morals, has, therefore, 



Pope Infallible, but not Impeccable. , 133 

nothing to do with questions concerning 
different forms of government. This infalli- 
bility is not claimed for any work that the 
Pope might undertake on natural scientific 
subjects, unless there would be a false appli- 
cation of science, which indeed is not science, 
and this false application arraying itself 
against revealed truth. 

When we say that the Pope is infallible, we 
must remember that Catholics do not claim 
that he is impeccable, meaning that he is 
unable to sin, or preserved by God from 
sinning. With very few exceptions, the men 
that sat on the chair of St. Peter, were good, 
virtuous and eminent of sanctity. Out of the 
two hundred and sixty, we number seventy- 
nine as saints. 

The enemies of the Church make accusa- 
tion against six Popes and say that they were 
immoral. It is not my place here to convey 
the proof in substantiation of the good and 
bad, but I will say in this connection that in 
the great majority of Pontiffs, no man can 
even point out a stain in their moral char- 
acter. Withal, however, the Pope is not 
impeccable; on the contrary, any Pope may 
fall into sin. We will take a somewhat sim- 



134 



A Silver Croicn. 



ilar case in civil life, a judge may have many 
faults, he may be a very sinful man in his 
private life, and yet eminent and faultless 
in his official capacity of judge in deciding 
points of law. 

Those persons who are fair-minded, honest 
and sincere, will cease to be astonished at this 
dogma of infallibility, if they will only ob- 
serve that declaimers against it are not care- 
ful to state accurately the terms and limita- 
tions of the solemn definition given regard- 
ing the Pope's infallibility, and that they 
cry out against a phantom of their own imag- 
inations, and condemn their Catholic neigh- 
bors by an imputation of doctrine which they 
do not hold. 

From scripture we learn that the Scribes 
and Pharisees were of sinful life, and yet 
our Lord, referring to them, says, "The 
Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair 
of Moses. All things, therefore, whatsoever 
they shall say to you, observe and do; but 
according to their works do ye not; for 
they say and do not." A wicked life would 
not impair the validity of their prerogatives, 
because they are not given for the preser- 
vation of their morals, but to guide their 



Pope Infallible, but not Impeccable. 135 

judgment from error in all matters of faith 
and morals for the universal Church. 

The grounds for this doctrine of infalli- 
bility we find in the words addressed to St. 
Peter: "Thou art Peter; and on this rock I 
will build my Church, and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it." "I, the Supreme 
Architect of the universe," says our Saviour, 
"will establish a Church which is to last till 
the end of time. I will lay the foundation 
of this Church so deep and strong on the 
rock of truth that the winds and storms of 
error shall not prevail against it. It shall 
never fall, because thou shalt never be shaken; 
and thou shalt never be shaken, because 
thou shalt rest on Me, the rock of truth." 

Thus by establishing in this blessed apostle 
this perpetuity of strength and guidance to 
secure the welfare and lasting good of the 
Church, we learn that he was always the most 
prominent figure of the apostles; he was the 
oracle which all came to consult. 

Peter, then, is the foundation, and the grand 
edifice that has been built upon this foun- 
dation is declared impregnable; he was com- 
missioned to hold the keys of truth, and these 
keys are to open the treasures of heavenly 



136 



A Silver Crown. 



knowledge to all the faithful. "Whosoever 
succeeds Peter in this See, by the institution 
of Christ Himself, obtains the Primacy of 
Peter over the whole Church. The disposi- 
tion made by Incarnate Truth, therefore, re- 
mains, and blessed Peter, abiding through 
the strength of the Rock in the power that he 
received, has not abandoned the direction 
of the Church. Wherefore, it has at all 
times been necessary that every particular 
Church, that is to say, the faithful throughout 
the world, should agree with the Roman 
Church, on account of the greater authority 
of the princedom which this has received; 
that all being associated in the unity of that 
See, whence the rights of communion spread 
to all, might grow together as members of 
one head in the compact unity of the body." 
— St. Irenaeus. 



Scandals in the Catholic Church ? 137 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SCANDALS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ? 

CATHOLICS, in their communication with 
Protestants, frequently hear the objec- 
tion raised, "I cannot see by what authority 
you Catholics can make the claim that you 
are members of the only true Church, w T hich 
you say is the Catholic Church. If this were 
really so, how is it that we meet so many 
Catholics, who are indifferent about their 
religion; you never see them pray, they never 
approach the sacraments of your Church; 
they pay no honor, respect, and no service do 
they give to God; they are anything but good 
Christians." Our enemies, too, make the 
objection, endeavoring to substantiate there- 
by, that the Catholic Church cannot be 
the only true Church, repeating the words of 
Christ, "By their fruits you shall know them"; 
and they say, "We fail to see the good fruits 
in the lives of your Catholic people; behold 
the great corruption of morals among so 



138 



A Silver Crown. 



many Catholics; the lives they lead are cer- 
tainly disedifying." 

We must admit, to our shame and con- 
fusion, that many of her children are bad, 
and become bad, inasmuch as they depart 
from the Catholic teaching and rules of the 
Church. We Catholics who faithfully and 
humbly follow the guidance of our holy 
Mother, the Church, who walk in the foot- 
steps of her divine Spouse, would be inclined 
to discouragement, would not be willing to 
bring and make the sacrifices and mortifica- 
tions that we do, were it not that our divine 
Saviour reminded us that scandals would 
come, that many things would happen, con- 
sidering the corruption of human nature 
through sin, which would prove stumbling- 
blocks to others; yet, "woe be to him who 
gives scandal." Good and bad are found in 
the true Church of Christ and as the Church 
will perform its mission of salvation until the 
end of time, the good and bad will be joined 
together. The Church, too, is compared to 
a net which gathers both good and bad 
fishes. An enemy sowed cockle among the 
wheat; the devil has his confederates, who 
render all that is good and holy for the de- 



Scandals in the Catholic Church ? 139 

struction of others, by giving scandal. They 
give vent to their bile, they rebuke and criti- 
cise, calumniate and scold, mock and blas- 
pheme. 

Such who give scandal on account of their 
wicked lives are indeed servants of Satan. 
The Church keeps sinners within her fold 
until the time of harvest, then the weeds shall 
be separated from the wheat. In so doing 
the Church does not connive at their sin; 
but in not cutting them off, by manifesting a 
compassion for the poor sinner clinging to 
the Church, she confidently hopes that by 
some happy circumstance he may reform his 
life; thus she wishes to reclaim him. The 
Church, in consequence, is a good and kind 
Mother, who will not disown her members 
as her children. She is animated by a spirit 
of charity, following in this regard the beau- 
tiful example of her divine Founder, Jesus 
Christ. 

Jesus, we are aware, came into this world 
to save sinners; He did not come to call 
the just, but the sinners, to repentance. 
Likewise he does not wish his destruction 
or death, but that he might be converted and 
live. Those only will merit the crown of eter- 



140 



A Silver Crown. 



nal bliss who "have washed their robes and 
have made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb"; that is, who have the merits of 
Christ applied to them, and who persevere 
to the end in doing what is commanded, such 
will be saved. 

Scandals have always existed among the 
members of the Church. We glean this 
knowledge from the history of our Church. 
We learn from the epistles of the apostles 
themselves that such was the case in their 
time. "These things have I spoken to you, 
that you may not be scandalized." (John 
xvi, 1.) 

In the early Christian Church even we find 
the good and the bad. Christ tells his dis- 
ciples that they would be put out of the syna- 
gogues, yea, that the hour would come when 
everyone would think that he was doing a 
service to God by killing them. Our Lord 
employed his omniscience and disclosed the 
future to his disciples, in order to preserve 
them as much as possible from scandal. 
Scandals will surely come. Christ intimated 
this truth by the words, "Woe to the world 
because of scandals." He does not say, woe 
to the world because of sickness, pestilence, 



Scandals in the Catholic Church? 141 

wars and death, famine and persecutions, 
but "woe to the world because of scandals," 
for scandal is the evil of evils and causes 
nothing but mischief for time and eternity. 

"He that shall scandalize one of these little 
ones that believe in me, it were better for him 
that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck 
and that he were drowned in the depth of the 
sea" (Matt, xviii, 6). 

Among the ancient nations only the great- 
est malefactors were drowned, and in cases of 
an execution by sword their bodies were 
thrown into the water. Thus when our Lord 
mentions that such a punishment should be 
meted out to all giving scandal, namely, by 
a death of drowning, it indicates the greatness 
and malice of the sin of scandal. Our Lord 
wishes that they may surely perish and cause 
no more mischief in the world. 

Cain, who slew his brother, gave scandal 
to his children and by this scandal caused his 
children to desert the path of virtue and holi- 
ness. Was this all ? No J They in turn gave 
scandal to their children and descendants, 
and thus wickedness is handed down from 
one generation to another. It went so far 
finally that the whole human race had degen- 



142 



A Silver Crown. 



erated to such a degree that God found it 
necessary to destroy all who had sinned by 
the deluge. 

Thus we learn the enormity of the sin of 
scandal in the primitive ages already. It had 
become a moral disease and even many souls 
that had been pious up to that time became 
infected by the wicked descendants of Cain, 
and thus by this pernicious sin all suffered 
destruction. 

The tongue is the principal instrument for 
giving scandal, especially in our time. So 
many teach others to commit sin by counsel, 
command and sanction. They seem to take 
a delight in, and even praise, the evil that is 
performed. We give scandal when, in the 
presence of others, especially of our children, 
we break out into curses and invectives; by 
impure representations and unchaste words 
scandal is given, because it undermines mod- 
esty and the fear of God, thus preparing the 
way for the most abominable excesses and 
vices. 

How much scandal is given to the children 
by the bad example of fathers and mothers; 
by bad books and unchaste writings, which 
call evil good, and good evil, and in which 



Scandals in the Catholic Church? 143 

advantage is taken of all the weapons of the 
spirit of falsehood in order to accomplish the 
work of seduction and perversion in our cities 
and villages. Scandal is given by discourses 
that are irreligious, by railleries on the truths 
of faith and on ecclesiastical ordinance, by 
slanderous words and calumnies, which are 
directed against the ministers of the Church, 
for by such discourses and utterances the 
love and respect towards the Church is weak- 
ened and destroyed in the hearts of our fellow- 
neighbors and infidelity takes possession of 
their souls. 

To give scandal is a terrible thing. It 
destroys souls that were purchased by Christ 
with his precious blood; it destroys the work 
for which he labored for thirty-three years. 
How will those who give scandal stand in 
judgment? This moral evil will be found 
until the consummation of time. History 
tells us that this moral evil of scandal is found 
and will be found not only in the laity, but 
among the clergy also. It records bad nuns 
and monks, wicked priests and such who dis- 
graced the sublime dignity, the plenitude of 
the priesthood in the office of the holy Epis- 
copate. 



144 



A Silver Crown. 



The most deplorable feature, therefore, 
regarding the giving of scandal, is, when 
her own leaders turn against the Church, 
when those, who indeed ought to be her 
stanch supporters, do ail within their power 
to tear away those redeemed souls for which 
Jesus Christ shed his most precious blood 
and for which he sacrificed his life upon Cal- 
vary's heights. The seed of dissension they 
propagate. Even as regards our separated 
brethren, time and investigation, the good 
example of those who returned to the one true 
fold, the light of eminent Catholic virtue and 
fortitude, and the unceasing prayers of the 
Church, would have done more to dissipate 
their dissensions and slanders, their rancor 
and bitterness, their vituperation and ani- 
mosity, were it not for the many who, disci- 
plined on account of their wicked deeds, 
would not brook correction; but passing over 
to the enemies of the Church, did all in their 
power and are still performing from time to 
time the nefarious work in fanning into flame 
again the dying embers of traditional hatred. 

What the Iscariot was to the apostolic col- 
lege, these renegades are to the Church which 
succeeded to the apostles. Upon considera- 



Scandals in the Catholic Church? 145 

tion we will find that the motive of their 
actions is likewise the same as his. The busi- 
ness is a lucrative one, gives opportunity to 
renegades to gratify those passions for the 
indulgence of which they were disciplined, 
and of course they consider it far more in- 
viting than a life of penance and purification 
in a monastery. This self-interest supplies 
what traditional prejudice invites. Still, not- 
withstanding all the intensity of the latter, it 
is impossible for Catholics to comprehend, 
how good and well-meaning Protestants can 
so often repose entire confidence in the state- 
ments of these evidently mercenary men. 
Anent this subject His Eminence Cardinal 
Gibbons said: 

"The Catholic Church is jealous of the 
honor and moral rectitude of her clergy. It 
is her constant aim that they should walk in 
innocence and blamelessness of life. But 
whenever any of her clergy is known to have 
contracted any degrading habits incompat- 
ible with his sacred calling he is withdrawn 
from the active pursuits of the ministry until 
he has given marks of reformation. But we 
find it very hard to please our enemies. They 
are very inconsistent. If we were to retain 



146 A Silver Crown. 



a degenerate clergy in the exercise of the pub- 
lic ministry, they would point the finger of 
scorn at us and say : 'See how low is the moral 
standard of the Catholic clergy/ If we dis- 
miss one of them from the service of the altar, 
they will forthwith pick him up from the gutter 
and receive this 'fallen angel' with open arms; 
they will embrace him as a long-lost brother 
and take him to their bosom and lead him 
about the country like some strange animal 
and exhibit him to public gaze. 

"He is sure, of course, to misrepresent and 
malign the Church, for what man ever spoke 
kindly of the mother whom he had insulted 
and dishonored ? His masters are sure to 
dictate the subjects on which he is to speak, 
which are popular and attractive for the 
time being, such as the everlasting inquisition, 
the confessional and the Pope. They affect 
to believe this man in his fall, whom they 
would not hear when he was honored in the 
sanctuary. If it is a sin to tell a jocose lie, 
if it is a crime to calumniate one's neighbor, 
how shall we characterize the offense of those 
who malign the largest body of Christians in 
the world? And the calumny becomes all 
the more reprehensible when uttered from a 



Scandals in the Catholic Church? 147 



Christian pulpit, which ought to be the chair 
of truth. A slander uttered there is an aggra- 
vated offense against truth and justice, char- 
ity and religion." 

We must not be surprised at this, for the 
causes of such depraved minds find their seat 
in worldliness, sloth and licentiousness. "In 
a large house there are not only vessels of 
gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; 
and some, indeed, unto honor, and some 
unto dishonor." We cannot, therefore, find 
fault with the Church on account of these sad 
and pitiable plights, because those who give 
scandal, precisely do so because the teachings 
and injunctions of holy Mother Church are 
disregarded and scorned. Such actions, even 
on the part of those who were chosen as guides 
and by a sinful life dishonor the Church, do 
not invalidate or impair the standing of the 
Church. 

The Church possesses the means of purity 
and sanctification. If we wage war upon our 
passions using the means that our Church 
offers, we will never go astray, but will lead a 
life pleasing to God, conformable to His 
most holy will. 

"Woe to the world because of scandals." 



148 



A Silver Crown. 



Protestants must kindly remember, that if 
Catholics are not any better than their sep- 
arated brethren, they are certainly not any 
worse. If we have more bad Catholics than 
bad Protestants, the reason is because the 
number of Catholics is far superior to that of 
Protestants. A city like 'New York has more 
bad people than we would find in Dayton. 
I affirm my statement and say, that among 
an equal number of Catholics and Protes- 
tants, indiscriminately selected to the number 
of twenty-five thousand, you will find a 
greater number of good and virtuous Cath- 
olics, than you will find good and virtuous 
Protestants. Really, there should be more, 
considering the graces and lights at their dis- 
posal. 

The Catholic Church is not satisfied with 
a religiousness vague and vapid; it com- 
mands the strict observance of God's pre- 
cepts, insists upon the practice of virtue and 
reminds us of sacrifice and mortification, 
which may be irksome, because they clash 
with our corrupt inclinations; yet, abstinence, 
fast and the reception of the sacraments are 
means of salvation that will merit for the good 
and faithful soul the crown of never-ending 
blessedness. 



Scandals in the Catholic Church? 149 

Protestantism is simply a negation and 
offers nothing. A good Protestant is Catholic 
at heart, and the Church looks upon them 
with tenderness and love. They may be out- 
side of the pale of the true Church, but what- 
ever faith and virtue their noble souls possess, 
is, in reality, the property of Catholicity. If 
they had the means of salvation which the 
Catholic Church affords her children, a per- 
fect and vivifying worship and the sanctifying 
consolations of the holy sacraments, it would 
make them all the better, and with the aid of 
these powerful means their lives would be 
saintly. 



150 A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

IS PURGATORY A CATHOLIC IMAGINATION? 

IT will be proper to define Purgatory, and 
then, by testimony incontrovertible, show 
that purgatory is neither a myth nor a fabri- 
cation. According to Catholic doctrine it is 
a place in which the souls of those who died 
in the state of grace suffer for a time, either 
on account of venial sin or on account of the 
temporal punishment due to mortal sin al- 
ready forgiven; therefore, not a place of pro- 
bation, but of expiation. 

Catholics believe that a Christian who died 
in the state of sanctifying grace, meaning 
free of mortal sin, but who, either from want 
of opportunity or through his negligence, has 
not discharged the debt to the justice of God, 
is in purgatory. It is also their belief that 
those Christians who died with venial sin, 
that they do not immediately enter heaven, 
but that such go first to purgatory for a cer- 
tain time, by God decreed, and thus after 



Is Purgatory a Catholic Imagination ? 151 

their purification from the stains of these 
venial sins, are admitted into heaven. Noth- 
ing defiled can enter the kingdom of heaven; 
every farthing must first be paid before the 
eternal reward is conveyed to man. 

The Catholic belief in purgatory rests on 
the authority of the Church and her apos- 
tolic traditions recorded in the ancient lit- 
urgies and in the writings of the ancient 
fathers. The general belief of all nations 
argues the existence of purgatory; the oracles 
of sacred scripture; all these things tell us 
that purgatory is not a myth nor is it a fab- 
ricated doctrine. Everywhere and at all 
times sacrifices for the dead are recorded in 
history, libations and expiatory rites men- 
tioned, all this for the sole purpose to purify 
man from his stains and to restore him to 
primitive innocence. This belief then must 
have come from primitive revelation, and that 
means from the source of all truth, from God 
Himself. 

The proof that w^e advance for the existence 
of purgatory is formally expressed in the Old 
Testament, where Judas the Machabee, after 
a celebrated victory, exhorted the Jews to 
pray for those of his warriors who had fallen 



152 



A Silver Crown. 



in battle; for, the holy text reads, it is a holy 
and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, 
in order that they may be loosed from sins. 
"Nothing defiled shall enter the kingdom of 
heaven/' says the apostle St. John. We know 
that many people die who were not enabled 
or neglected to expiate all their sins, thus no 
pardon having been obtained for certain 
venial sins. Now such souls cannot enter the 
kingdom of heaven on leaving this world, be- 
cause all sins have not been atoned for and 
nothing defiled can enter heaven. There 
must then be a middle state. We cannot say 
that such souls have been condemned to hell, 
because they are in the state of grace. This 
middle state is, in consequence, between 
heaven and hell, where venial sins find due 
expiation, where a complete atonement is 
made, where the soul becomes so purified that 
upon being set free, this soul is perfectly 
clean; and that place is purgatory. 

Besides the forcible and clear proof from 
the Old Testament, where at the close of an 
engagement costing so many lives, twelve 
thousand drachms of silver were sent to Jeru- 
salem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins 
of the dead, extended extracts from the writ- 



Is Purgatory a Catholic Imagination? 153 

ings of the early fathers of the Church are at 
hand, bearing upon this question of purgatory. 
Tertullian writes, "The faithful wife will pray 
for the soul of her deceased husband, par- 
ticularly on the anniversary day of his falling 
asleep. And if she fail to do so, she hath 
repudiated her husband as far as in her lies." 
St. Ephrem, in the fourth century, writes, 
"I conjure you, my brethren and friends, in 
the name of that God who commands me to 
leave you, to remember me when you assem- 
ble to pray. Do not bury me with perfumes. 
Give them not to me, but to God. Me, con- 
ceived in sorrows, bury with lamentations, 
and instead of perfumes, assist me with your 
prayers; for the dead are benefited by the 
prayers of the living saints." St. Augustine, 
of the fifth century, tells us that when his 
mother was at the point of death, she made 
this last request of him: "Lay this body any- 
where; let not the care of it in any way dis- 
turb you. This only I request of you, that 
you would remember me at the altar of the 
Lord, wherever you be." 

An endless number of witnesses could be 
quoted, substantiating that the existence of 
purgatory has always been the belief and 



154 A Silver Crown. 



teaching of the Church, and the dogma of 
purgatory has therefore been placed among 
the articles of faith. The poor souls who are 
detained in purgatory cannot leave it until the 
last farthing has been paid and we are told 
that it is a fearful thing to fall in the hands of 
the living God. These poor souls sigh for 
the moment to be admitted to God's holy 
presence. They are prisoners in a distant 
land; their release is eagerly sought; they wish 
to obtain the promised land. We are not able 
to picture the lonesomeness which has taken 
possession of their bereaved souls, and their 
holy impatience to leave their loathsome prison 
that the delights of heaven may be accorded 
them. They know that they have merited 
heaven; their names have been inscribed 
among the number of the elect; nevertheless, 
they cannot partake of the glory and happi- 
ness, because some stains have not yet been 
wiped out. 

This is surely a suffering and a torment: 
knowing that they are of God, destined to see 
and possess him forever in heaven, yet they 
must be deprived of the enjoyment. Now, 
these poor souls cannot help themselves. They 
cry out to us, in the words of sacred scripture, 



Is Purgatory a Catholic Imagination? 155 

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least 
you, my friends. All you," therefore, these 
souls lament in tones most pitiable, "do not 
permit your memory of us to be cast into 
oblivion; you who are partaking of the enjoy- 
ments and pleasures of the world. Of all 
these for a great expanse of time, nothing we 
have known. All you who are leading lives 
without cares, without suffering, kindly re- 
member that our sufferings are terrible; we 
could not describe them, we are nearly con- 
sumed with torture and torment. All you 
who upon earth are experiencing the bitter- 
ness of suffering and pain, do kindly remem- 
ber, that in a single moment we endure more 
suffering and pain, than you endure during 
the time of your earthly existence. All you 
whom God has given a compassionate heart, 
do not content yourselves with the perform- 
ance of corporal works of mercy, inasmuch 
as you feed the hungry, give drink to the 
thirsty and harbor the harborless, but do also 
remember us, who are so hungry and thirsty 
for the possession of God, who are not only 
deprived of every shelter, but suffer pains 
most excruciating/ ' "Have pity on me, have 
pity on me, at least you, my friends, because 



156 



A Silver Crown. 



the hand of the Lord has touched me." (Job 
xix, 21.) Ah! even if we were strangers to 
you, even then you ought to have compassion 
on us; but you, parents, friends, how can 
you forget us, suffering as we are? My son, 
my daughter, cries out a father, or an unfor- 
tunate mother, I suffered so much for you on 
earth, I took so much care of you, I always 
showed myself kind and benevolent, you 
came into possession of all my goods, how 
could you manifest a coldness towards me, 
do not refuse to help me, to assist me with a 
few prayers! My husband, my wife, my 
brother, my sister, my friend, where is that 
love which united us once, where is the grat- 
itude you owe me ? Do not forget me, have 
pity on me! We therefore, children of the 
Church, should be ever mindful of these suf- 
fering souls, belonging to the Church suffer- 
ing, and bear in mind that everything we do 
for the souls in purgatory, shall be amply 
rewarded, and that when they are once re- 
leased from their place of suffering, when they 
are admitted to the realms of eternal blessed- 
ness, they will intercede for us. We are told 
too, that if we should be fortunate enough to 
deliver one single soul from purgatory, our 



Is Purgatory a Catholic Imagination? 157 

salvation would be almost assured, because 
in that case, we would have in heaven a friend 
who would not cease to pray for us, and who 
could not fail to obtain for us the grace of 
conversion and perseverance. On the con- 
trary, if we neglect our duty in this respect, 
if we never pray for these poor suffering souls, 
if we never make a sacrifice in their behalf, 
then we must expect to be treated in the same 
manner by those who come after us. No! 
let us not be ungrateful, but we will assist 
these suffering souls in the name of charity, 
friendship and gratitude. Those who are 
our dear relatives, friends and benefactors, 
can lay claim to our help and assistance in 
the name of justice. If those, oftentimes, who 
are not of our faith, manifest this filial love 
of kindness and loyalty, I feel sure we will 
redouble our prayers for them. 

Tennyson takes up the Catholic sentiment 
in the following beautiful lines: 

"I have lived my life, and that which I have done 
May He within Himself make pure; but thou, 
If thou shouldst never see my face again, 
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer 
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice 
Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 



158 



A Silver Crown. 



For what are men better than sheep or goats 

That nourish a blind life within the brain, 

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 

Both for themselves and those who call them friend? 

For so the whole round earth is every way 

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." 

We are all children of God; why not do 
all we can to make the separation of our de- 
parted friends as endurable and easy as pos- 
sible, do all we can to alleviate their sufferings 
and to hasten the moment of their entrance 
into the place of refreshment, peace and 
happiness eternal! 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 159 



CHAPTER XX. 

SOCIALISM AND SOCIALISTIC DREAMS. 

A CONSCIOUS endeavor to substitute 
organized cooperation for existence in 
place of the present struggling competition 
for existence. A system of political economy, 
having for its aim the nationalization of prop- 
erty and in the public administration and 
distribution of all goods. Socialism advocates 
that all capital, all products of labor, should 
become the common property of society, and 
that society or the state, in other words, should 
administer and distribute all. 

The present condition or status of Social- 
ism, its species of development, owes its 
existence and growth to the great industry, 
to the modification of social circumstances 
which the mechanical inventions of our time, 
the rapid means of communication and the 
devices of every kind have brought on. These 
numerous and various mechanical contri- 
vances greatly diminish labor, thereby causing 



160 



A Silver Crown. 



hardship and struggle for the poorer classes; 
on the other hand, these devices occasion an 
increase of gain in the pockets of those already 
in comfortable circumstances. 

These economical questions disturbed the 
peace and tranquillity of our people; to this 
strife there is added bitterness, a great oppo- 
sition between the rich and the poor. Social- 
ism, then, calls itself a system of social organ- 
ization which has for its object the removal 
of this inequality, advocating the inviolable 
ownership of all capital and the materials of 
labor. We must admit that a great injustice 
has been frequently done the poor working 
classes by the employer and individual cap- 
italist in piling up riches and capital from the 
unpaid labor of the wage-earners. Often- 
times are they compelled to sell their labor- 
power at reduced wages from which they must 
buy food, clothing and defray other necessary 
expenses. If they do not accept lower rates 
of wages they must starve. Employers may 
run risks, yet there can be no risk for the class 
as a whole. A profit for them as a class is 
absolutely certain; but in order to enhance 
this profit, in circumstances where they are 
pressed by the competition of their fellows, 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 161 

individual capitalists and employers, have 
naturally endeavored to reduce wages, to 
lengthen hours of labor, to introduce improved 
machinery, and to turn out as much goods 
as cheaply as possible, so as to obtain by their 
superior cheapness a larger sale. 

The poor laboring man is obliged to sell his 
labor-power for little or nothing, as the saying 
is, because his children must be supported, 
rescued from the point of starvation. The 
success of the employer seems a necessity of 
existence to them, and a large employer of 
labor for profit is often regarded as a public 
benefactor; but it is manifest that the in- 
terests of the wage-earning class and the 
capitalist class cannot by any possibility be 
in reality identical, though it may be and is 
to the temporary interest of a particular set 
of wage-earners that their own individual 
employer should be successful. At this point 
Socialism comes in- and shows how the an- 
tagonism inherent in the capitalist system 
must be solved by establishing cooperative 
production and distribution in the place of 
competitive wagedom and competitive cap- 
italism. 

Socialism is asserting itself in modern 



162 



A Silver Crown. 



society by reason of economic causes. There 
is a feeling growing in every civilized nation 
that the hours of labor, as well as the wages 
of the workers, should not be governed by 
any law of competition but that the workers 
should labor a reasonable length of time and 
should receive wages adequate to obtain for 
them a decent standard of life. This, of 
course, will readily be seen by any man of 
common judgment, that the laboring man is 
entitled to a fair wage, that no wage is con- 
sidered fair which compels him to live on the 
borderland of beggary, and in cramped and 
miserable quarters. 

If Socialism were built on the basic prin- 
ciples of religion, and really intended to pro- 
vide for the betterment of the masses, if it 
were actuated by motives which make for 
genuine progress, meaning the advancement 
of education, the promotion of morality, with 
the ulterior object of availing itself of the 
occasion to fashion their minds for things 
which are everlasting, tending therefore to 
God, no objection could be raised against 
the system of Socialism. In that case it must 
be maintained that the right of acquiring 
and possessing property cannot be impugned, 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 163 

and it would have to safeguard the various 
distinctions and degrees which are indis- 
pensable in every well-ordered commonwealth. 

Socialism, with all due regard to the greater 
or less intensity or vehemence of its propa- 
ganda, is, as the predecessor in the pontifical 
chair of the present incumbent already stated, 
a negation of the fundamental principles of 
divine faith; many of its supporters maintain 
that there is really nothing existing above the 
natural order of things, and that the acquire- 
ment and enjoyment of corporal and external 
goods constitute man's happiness. It aims 
at putting all government in the hands of the 
people, reducing all ranks to the same level, 
abolishing all distinction of class, and finally 
introducing community of goods. Hence, 
the right of ownership is to be abrogated, and 
whatever property a man possesses, or what- 
ever means of livelihood he has, is to be com- 
mon to all. 

The laws of nature and of the gospel, which 
by right are superior to all human contin- 
gencies, are necessarily independent of all 
modifications of civil government, while at 
the same time they are in harmony with every- 
thing that is not repugnant to morality and 



164 



A Silver Crown. 



justice. They are, therefore, and must re- 
main, absolutely free from political parties, 
and have nothing to do with the various 
changes of administration which may occur 
in a nation; so that Catholics may and ought 
to be citizens according to the constitution 
of any state, guided as they are by those laws 
which command them to love God above all 
things, and their neighbors as themselves. 
Hence, their mind and action is devoted to 
the amelioration of the working classes, and 
can therefore never be actuated with the pur- 
pose of favoring and introducing one govern- 
ment in place of another. 

Whilst we must look after the advantage 
of the working people, we must not forget the 
upper classes of society, for they also are of 
the greatest use in preserving and perfecting 
the commonwealth. Wherefore, our charity 
must embrace all classes of society, and all 
should be treated as members of the same 
family, as children of the same heavenly 
Father, as redeemed by the same Saviour, 
and called to the same eternal heritage. 

Many, indeed, we have not the least doubt, 
have labored courageously to solve this prob- 
lem of Socialism, but no satisfactory method 
of solution to industrial strife and social in- 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 165 

equalities, that will insure a lasting peace, has 
thus far been advanced. I do not consider 
the problem solvable. If all men were angels 
we could see a possibility of solution. 

In demonstrating the untenableness of the 
principles of Socialism, we have only to recall 
to mind how different men are in their in- 
clinations, talents, characters, health, phys- 
ical strength and natural wants; then again, 
take the moral differences in regard to pru- 
dence, temperance, industry and economy. 
Then you will notice a diversity in regard to 
honors, influence, property, and social stand- 
ing, which could be prevented only by con- 
tinued violence. Salvation in this respect, as 
I see it, does not lie in any social scheme 
or plan. We must place no faith in set 
theories or doctrines which promise quick and 
sweeping results and which ignore the tedious 
growth of society as taught by nearly six 
thousand years of history. Consider what 
sacrifice and struggle are necessary even to 
achieve any moderate reform. If by Social- 
ism all could be obtained that its adherents 
strive for, who can foretell what their desires 
would be a month hence and what problems 
may in consequence arise? 

Our very discontent is due to the larger 



166 



A Silver Crown. 



conception of our possibilities, to the widen- 
ing of our horizon. What we want and need 
is less injustice, more humanity; we want a 
larger participation by the average person in 
the benefits of civilization. The hope for a 
higher social order must depend primarily 
upon the perfection of the individual rather 
than upon a plan for remodeling society. It 
is the improvement of the individual, both 
as to character and capacity, and the influ- 
ences which lend their assistance, with which 
we should be principally concerned. Chris- 
tian virtue must be planted and nurtured in 
the heart of man; he must be guided by pru- 
dence, frugality, patience and other correct 
virtues, and if he be not so guided, no matter 
how much he may strive, he will never achieve 
prosperity. 

We learn the tendency of American Social- 
ism from the issuance of the following mani- 
festo held in their congress at Baltimore: 
''Labor being the creator of all wealth and 
civilization, it rightfully follows that those 
who labor and create all wealth should enjoy 
the full result of their toil. Therefore we de- 
clare: That a just and equitable distribution 
of the fruits of labor is utterly impossible 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 167 

under the present system of society. This 
fact is abundantly illustrated by the deplor- 
able condition of the working classes, which 
are in a state of destitution and degrading 
dependence in the midst of their own pro- 
ductions. While the hardest and most dis- 
agreeable work brings to the worker only the 
bare necessaries of life, others, who labor 
not, riot in labor's production. We further- 
more declare: That the present industrial 
system of competition, based on rent, profit- 
taking, and interest, causes and intensifies 
this inequality, concentrating into the hands 
of a few all means of production, distribution, 
and the results of labor, thus creating gigantic 
monopolies, dangerous to the liberties of the 
people; and we further declare: That these 
monster monopolies and these consequent 
extremes of wealth and poverty supported 
by class legislation are subversive of all 
democracy, injurious to the national interests, 
and destructive of truth and morality. This 
state of affairs, continued and upheld by the 
ruling political parties, is against the welfare 
of the people. To abolish this system, with 
a view to establish cooperative production, 
and to secure equitable distribution, we de- 



168 



A Silver Crown. 



mand that the resources of life, namely, land, 
the means of production, public transporta- 
tion, and exchange, become as fast as prac- 
ticable the property of the whole state." 

In Cincinnati a little later on, the Socialists 
in convention framed social and political 
declarations. As to the former: 1. The 
United States shall take possession of the 
railroads, canals, telegraphs, telephones, and 
all other means of public transportation. 
2. The municipalities to take possession of 
the local railroads, of ferries, and of the supply 
of light to streets and public places. 3. Pub- 
lic lands to be declared inalienable. They 
shall be leased according to fixed principles. 
Revocation of all grants of land by the United 
States to corporations or individuals, the con- 
ditions of which have not been complied with 
or which are otherwise illegal. 4. The United 
States to have the exclusive right to issue 
money. 5. Congressional legislation provid- 
ing for the scientific managements of forests 
and waterways, and prohibiting the waste of 
the natural resources of the country. 6. The 
United States to have the right of expro- 
priation of running patents. New inventions 
to be free to all, but inventors to be remu- 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 169 

nerated by national rewards. 7. Legal pro- 
vision that the rent of dwellings shall not 
exceed a certain percentage of the value of 
the buildings as taxed by the municipality. 
8. Inauguration of public works in times of 
economical depression. 9. Progressive in- 
come-tax on- inheritances; but smaller in- 
comes to be exempt. 10. Compulsory school 
education of all children under fourteen years 
of age. Instruction in all edu€ational insti- 
tutions to be gratuitous, and to be made 
accessible to all by public assistance (furnish- 
ing meals, clothes, books, etc.). All instruc- 
tion to be under the direction of the United 
States, and to be organized on a uniform plan. 
11. Repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, 
and temperance laws. Unabridged right of 
combination. 12. Official statistics concern- 
ing the condition of labor. Prohibition of 
the employment of children in the school age 
and the employment of female labor in occu- 
pations detrimental to health or morality. 
Prohibition of the convict-labor contract sys- 
tem. 13. All wages to be paid in cash money. 
Equalization by law of women's w x ages with 
those of men where equal service is performed. 
14. Laws for the protection of life and limb 



170 



A Silver Crown. 



of working people, and an efficient employer's 
liability law. 15. Legal incorporation of 
trades-unions. 16. Reduction of the hours of 
labor in proportion to the progress of pro- 
duction; establishment by act of Congress of 
a legal work-day of not more than eight hours 
for all industrial workers, and corresponding 
provisions for all agricultural laborers. 

As to the latter: 1. Abolition of the Presi- 
dency, Vice-Presidency, and Senate of the 
United States. An Executive Board to be 
established whose members are to be elected, 
and may at any time be recalled, by the 
House of Representatives as the only legisla- 
tive body. The States and municipalities to 
adopt corresponding amendments of their 
constitution and statutes. 2. Municipal self- 
government. 3. Direct vote and secret ballot 
in all elections. Universal and equal rights 
of suffrage without regard to color, creed, or 
sex. Election-days to be legal holidays. The 
principle of minority representation to be 
introduced. 4. The people to have the right 
to propose laws {initiative) and to vote upon 
all laws of importance {referendum). 5. The 
members of all legislative bodies to be re- 
sponsible to and subject to recall by the con- 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 171 

stituency. 6. Uniform law throughout the 
United States. Administration of justice to 
be free of charge. Abolition of capital pun- 
ishment. 7. Separation of all public affairs 
from religion; church property to be subject 
to taxation. 8. Uniform national marriage 
laws. Divorce to be granted upon mutual 
consent, and upon providing for the care of 
the children. 

All should have equal rights, and by this 
the Socialists mean the actual and absolute 
equality of rights in actual social life. To a 
certain amplitude we are in the enjoyment 
of an equality before the law; of course cer- 
tain violations are manifest from time to 
time, yet in this country we can demand our 
rights. In certain countries, too, there is no 
distinction when there is a question of political 
rights, so this equality has reference to the 
actual social life. 

Now, if there existed an absolute equality 
of all men, meaning an equality in every 
possible phase and under every possible 
aspect, then Socialism would be practical. 
This is not the case, however. We must con- 
sider man as he is in the concrete, and you 
will learn that a great inequality exists, 



172 



A Silver Crown. 



therefore rights and duties must of necessity 
be of a diversified nature. Do we not find 
many who are born helpless, others in child- 
hood who are weak and crippled; then you 
will find those of robust nature. Old age, 
again, presents another inequality. Some you 
will find who are of bright intellect, one hav- 
ing perhaps five talents, another two, and 
then another who has received but one. Others 
are infirm during the entire period of their 
existence; others never know what it is to be 
sick, healthy at all times. 

Society is divided into numerous profes- 
sions and avocations, and all these have their 
respective rights and duties. Take the oppo- 
site sex. Did not God Himself bestow upon 
woman peculiar virtues and talents; has she 
not received endowments which will fit her 
most admirably for her position in life as 
mother and as wife; are not these charac- 
teristics totally different from those of man ? 
Is not all this evidence in clearest form that 
God Himself intended one task for man and 
another for woman ? 

Socialists tell us that this difference in vir- 
tues and endowments respecting man and 
womankind is simply a condition of slavery. 



Socialism and Socialistic Dreams. 173 



It is the result of education in its present 
form, they tell us. Any person with ordinary 
common sense can learn from the condition 
of things that confronts us everywhere that 
to make such an assertion is ridiculous. We 
know from the physical organization of woman 
and from the duties and cares that are con- 
nected with motherhood, that an equality of 
rights and privileges cannot exist; that all 
such talk is simply chimerical. 

He who has once undertaken, on the basis 
of the equality of all men, to upset the exist- 
ing order of society and to create equal con- 
ditions of life for all, cannot permit that 
society freely adopts professions or callings 
which, in regard to emolument, labor and 
dangers, are so widely different from one 
another. It is then absurd to maintain, that 
by education and culture, it is possible to 
make all men fit for all professions, so that 
each one in his turn is fit to discharge all the 
various functions of social life. Socialists 
declare that once their system becomes a 
reality, a paradise will be ours. We shall 
then be enabled to satisfy every craving, every 
desire of the heart, we will have occasion to 
indulge our taste for variety. All men shall 
be happy; little work and much enjoyment. 



174 



A Silver Crown. 



If you care to take a pleasure trip, say, to 
beautiful California or Colorado, to the re- 
freshing sea-coast of the Atlantic, your wish 
under the regime of Socialism will be granted. 
Not only in our cities, but also in the country, 
all sorts of amusement and entertainments 
will be had. Theatres and museums, libraries 
and hotels, promenades and public baths will 
be erected. Work will not be work as we 
understand it at present, but it will be more 
of a recreation, in the nature of a play. Man's 
hours for work even under these facilities will 
be but few, which short periods will be suf- 
ficient for the perfect satisfaction of all human 
wants. Our natures will partake of the 
angelic; man will do all in his power to dis- 
tinguish himself most eminently before others. 
Violations of the law and crimes will be no 
more under their system; no man will bear 
any hostile feeling towards his neighbors, but 
we will all be brothers and sisters. An ever- 
lasting peace will become a reality. 

How beautiful, indeed, if such a state of 
events could be! Such utterances of their 
leaders are simply dreams of a socialistic 
paradise, manifesting clearly the untenable- 
ness of the principles of Socialism to our men 
of thought. 



The Troubles in France. 175 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE TROUBLES IN FRANCE. 

WE are told that the French Govern- 
ment, both in and out of Parliament, 
is supported by an element of people whose 
tendencies are of a revolutionary character, 
whose measures are extremely socialistic. 
France is a land boasting of liberty, equality 
and fraternity, yet it is only too well known 
that these virtues have frequently a meaning 
of self-interest, and are to be exercised only 
by such persons whose views and tendencies 
are in concord with the professors of them. 

Many institutions of charity are found in 
France, and wherever and whenever it be- 
came a question of responding to the various 
needs of humanity, of extending a helping 
hand for the removal and alleviation of suf- 
fering, of manifesting sympathy and devoted- 
ness, she could be relied upon. It is a pity 
that law and order do not reign supreme, that 
partisan politics are the supporters of revo- 



176 



A Silver Crown. 



lutionary forces, and that the really true and 
devoted citizens are ignored. 

Thus ever so many could not understand 
how such a situation could be possible in 
a country which is almost entirely Catholic 
and where the Catholic religion is the religion 
of the State. A clear exposition in regard to 
this surprise is here given by a close observer 
of current events on the French crisis of a 
religious nature: 

"People who are surprised that a majority 
of the people of France could have been so 
overcome by a minority of infidels know little 
about the tactics of such foes. A few clever 
rascals without any conscience can do won- 
ders. They can purchase the press and poison 
the minds of the people. They can make 
their cause the cause of the masses and blind 
them to truth, justice and liberty, and in the 
name of Liberty they can drag the people 
into the bonds of intellectual and moral 
slavery. 

"It requires only a little reflection to under- 
stand how this can be done. See how a few 
villains have robbed the public through cor- 
porations. See how this is still being done, 
and then you can clearly draw the inference 



The Troubles in France. 177 



how worse has been effected in France, where 
the most powerful minds in the world have 
combined to overthrow the reign of Christ. 
Think, again, how a few schismatics, under 
the pretence of seeking the public good, can 
draw to their side many of the best meaning 
minds and, when they get the upper hand, 
how they can overpower and crush for a 
while, those who were the true representatives 
of the rights of God and man. Get down a 
little further and ask yourself if you have never 
known similar tactics to have been used in 
religious communities, societies of every kind 
and congregations. 

''What has been done by would-be reform- 
ers in associations on a small scale, has often 
been done on a larger scale in kingdoms and 
republics. History, properly studied, will bear 
witness not only to the truth of what we say, 
but it will also testify to another truth, viz., 
that those cunning villains, to whom we have 
referred, were invariably punished by the 
Just Judge who permitted them to carry out 
their nefarious designs, but who could not 
permit them to go unpunished. 

"When the people allow themselves to be 
deceived against the warning of their legiti- 



178 



A Silver Crown. 



mate rulers and teachers, they deserve to be 
punished by the calamities they helped to 
bring upon themselves; but the patience of 
God has ever been and always will be vindi- 
cated by His inexorable justice. 

' 'When you are disturbed or horrified at 
the awful pictures presented by the history 
of France, you have only to ask, "What be- 
came of the authors of all this ?" and you will 
find that their end was miserable. Perhaps 
you have not noted what has happened to 
some of those who were the most guilty in 
bringing about the present persecution of 
French Catholics. 

"Where is Waldeck-Rousseau, whose per- 
verted genius more than any other generated 
and fostered those infamous codes ? He is 
dead, and before he died, as a proof that his 
conscience was his worst accuser, he called 
for a priest to absolve him. Whether the 
wretch deserved or received absolution we 
need not inquire. The daily press takes no 
notice of the silent justice of Heaven; but it 
is ever present, all the same, judging and pun- 
ishing the guilty. 

"Persecution is a terrible weapon; but, 
like sin, it has always had man for its author 



The Troubles in France. 179 



and cause. It is forged in the furnace of un- 
bridled wickedness, and wielded by the hosts 
of despots, rich and poor led by the spirit of 
Satan, and its worst victims have always been 
its own votaries." 

The persecution is a religious one, pure and 
simple. The hypocrisy of those in power is 
evident. They state, and slanderously so, 
that the religious communities now being 
persecuted by them, are the enemies of the 
republic. France will lose by having such 
maligners in power, not alone in France but 
in the estimation of other countries also. When 
France, in defence of its present policy, says 
that it w r ants a lay republic, it means an athe- 
istical one. It wants no school where a men- 
tion of God is made, no code of laws if refer- 
ence is made to God, it desires to eliminate 
everything and anything which savors of the 
least religious tinge. 

The leaders, like Waldeck-Rousseau and 
Monsieur Combes, by their tactics endeav- 
ored to disguise this, yet all their protestations 
were in plain contradiction to their doctrine 
and purpose. The former even went so far 
as to slander the communities in saying that 
his enactment to suppress the religious orders 



180 



A Silver Crown. 



and to prohibit religious vows, has, as its 
determining motive, the immorality of re- 
ligious vows and their incompatibility with 
the laws of France. He said, "All republican 
institutions have repeatedly condemned what- 
ever constitutes an abdication of individual 
rights, a renunciation of the exercise of fac- 
ulties natural to all citizens, the right to marry, 
to buy and sell, to engage in commerce, to 
engage in any profession whatsoever, to 
possess property, in a word, everything that 
resembles personal servitude." 

One cannot help admiring the delicacy of 
conscience and the strict morality of those 
men who have violated every law in strang- 
ling the religious orders and seizing their 
property, and this at the beck of the secret 
societies which appointed them for the task. 
Using this as a pretext, their main object was 
to do away with the orders gradually, hamper 
them, persecute them from every side, and 
finally render it impossible for them to exist. 

Whilst the confiscation of property went on 
people were led to believe that the Republic 
assures liberty of conscience, the free exercise 
of worship is guaranteed. This confiscation, 
Waldeck-Rousseau declared in one of the 



The Troubles in France. 181 



Council meetings, must be made, because 
these congregations are in open revolt against 
the laws of the country, they constitute an 
economic danger, the value of their real 
property is more than a milliard of francs. 
They were likewise accused in having taken 
a hand in the Dreyfus affair, that this affair 
was the outward and visible sign of their 
teachings. So they were held up as treach- 
erous, as such who would seek the ruin of 
France. All the religious orders these calum- 
niators classed under a generic name, called 
Jesuits, and whatever charges their corrupt 
minds could fabricate were consequently 
charged to them. 

Relative to the first charge of Waldeck- 
Rousseau, President of the Council of Min- 
isters, that the value of the real property be- 
longing to the congregations amounted to 
such an immense sum as hereinbefore given, 
a writer well versed along these lines, and who 
has taken up the defense of the religious 
orders, and which so-called "immensity of 
property" Waldeck-Rousseau styled "the con- 
gregational mortmain," this champion for the 
cause of truth and justice replies: 

"No accusation could be fraught with 



182 A Silver Crown. 



greater danger to its object or to the cause of 
the Catholic Church which is confounded 
with that of the congregations; and none, 
by reason of its falsity and its perfidiousness, 
could be more unworthy of the head of a 
government. 

"There is a great deal of so-called "mort- 
main" real property in France, i. e., prop- 
erty belonging to a body with a continuous 
existence; the departments, the communes, 
and the hospitals, for example, hold a very 
considerable amount, far more considerable 
in fact, than that possessed by the congrega- 
tions. This is proved by the simple fact, 
which is established by official statistics, that 
the real property belonging to the communes 
alone represents an area of 4,510,000 hec- 
tares; whereas that of all types of congrega- 
tions taken together hardly extends to 48,000! 
As for the figure of a milliard, the Govern- 
ment tried to prove the correctness of the 
estimate by means of a Government inquiry, 
which was conducted, I may mention, in such 
a way that it was absolutely impossible to 
verify its conclusions. In any case, judging 
from such figures as the Commission pro- 
duced, it is impossible, with good faith, to 



The Troubles in France. 



183 



arrive at a total of more than 435,000,000 
francs as representing the value of the real 
property owned by the congregations; and, 
as a matter of fact, that is the figure adopted 
by those responsible for the budget. So 
much for the only too notorious "milliard of 
the congregations." But apart from the ques- 
tion of figures, how is it possible at the pres- 
ent day, and in the present state of the world 
in general, to maintain that collective owner- 
ship constitutes a public danger ? The great 
feature of the economic development of the 
nineteenth century was the creation of col- 
lective enterprises. Every kind of industrial 
and commercial undertaking tends to take 
that form; every kind of social, charitable, and 
philanthropic activity tends more and more to 
have recourse to the establishment of perman- 
ent societies. How is it possible for the prin- 
ciple of association, which has been encour- 
aged everywhere to such an extent by the 
public authorities in particular and by the 
manners and customs of modern humanity in 
general to constitute a public danger, more 
especially in the case of charitable institutions 
or religious schools, for the establishment of 
which the greater part of the real property 



184 



A Silver Crown. 



owned by the congregations was intended to be 
utilized ? M. Leon Say, whose name has been 
rendered famous in England as well as else- 
where by his numerous works on economic and 
financial subjects, and who occupied one of the 
most important ministerial offices in the Re- 
public, wrote ten years ago, 'Possibly the 
clerical "mortmain" will hereafter become a 
trifling matter in comparison with that of lay 
society/ All careful minds appreciate the truth 
of this remark. The reaction against the 
individualistic doctrines of the eighteenth cen- 
tury is universal ; the principle of association, 
of organized cooperation and collective enter- 
prise, invades, in every country, the fields in 
which the most varied types of national activ- 
ity are exercised. Workmen's associations, 
more particularly, daily increase in number, 
in strength, and in influence; and by degrees, 
as and when their right to acquire property 
is more freely recognized, as must inevitably 
be the case, the 'mortmain' of the working 
classes will attain more considerable propor- 
tions and will exercise an influence of incalcu- 
lable magnitude on the economic destiny of 
nations. How, then, can it be pretended in 
good faith that the existence of real property 



The Troubles in France. 185 



to the value of a few hundred million francs 
in the hands of a few thousand monks or 
humble nuns is becoming a public danger? 

"It would be difficult to abuse the public 
credulity in a more cruel manner, and the bait 
was rendered all the more alluring and decep- 
tive by the fact that the people were induced 
to hope that the proposed confiscation and 
sale of the possessions which were denounced, 
and thus made the object of popular cupid- 
ity, would be utilized to the common profit. 
The very fact that nearly all the real prop- 
erty belonging to the congregations was not 
of a revenue-producing character, but com- 
prised establishments arranged with a view to 
special objects, such as the education of chil- 
dren or the care of the sick, and consisted 
of colleges, hospitals and orphan asylums, 
made it perfectly obvious that it was of com- 
paratively little value for selling purposes, 
and that it would be extremely difficult to 
find a purchaser. Such, however, w^ere the 
sophistries and such were the calumnies on 
which the entire campaign directed against 
the congregations was based." 

Relative to the second charge, a great deal 
was written in our papers and pamphlets. It 



186 



A Silver Crown. 



is hardly worth the while to revive these dis- 
putes. It is something that is disgusting to 
all good Frenchmen, and to make accusation 
that the religious orders were connected with 
the Dreyfus affair is simply preposterous and 
a calumny most vile. They were in no wise 
mixed up with this affair, which their enemies 
say was the direct result of the practical appli- 
cation of the teaching from their hands. 
These religious men, although maligned by 
many and at the same time the innocent 
causes of much suffering, in spite of all re- 
membered that they had consecrated them- 
selves to the service of God, and therefore did 
not desist preaching the word of God and 
laboring among the faithful classes. That 
they were always found to be respectful to all, 
even their enemies must admit. 

We can but extend our heartfelt sympathy 
to these good and noble souls working in the 
Lord's vineyard; meritorious and glorious is 
their work. Lamentable indeed is the humil- 
iating condition of all, proving their loyalty 
to holy Mother Church and its zealous min- 
isters by their many acts of sacrifice and 
suffering. 

Brighter days for France will come, and 



The Troubles in France. 187 



although many are found sleeping at present, 
there is still a spirit in the Catholic Church of 
France, which in proper and due time will 
assert itself and reanimate those who may be 
dormant in this hour, thus holding out the 
hope of better and brighter days for the 
republic. 



188 A Silver Croivn. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DIVORCE. * 

JT^HE meaning of the word Divorce is, a 
X separation, taken from the Latin divor- 
tium. According to the law of the Church, 
it signifies a separation of husband and wife 
but in civil law it is taken to mean a dissolu- 
tion of the bond of marriage, as a rule. 
Ecclesiastical law, or the law of the Church, 
distinguishes two kinds of divorce: 1. Divorce 
a mensa et toro, from bed and board, which 
kind of divorce does not dissolve the marriage 
bond, but whose significance is simply a sep- 
aration; then there is, 2. Divorce a vinculo, 
which means a dissolution from the marriage 
bond, which totally severs the marriage tie. 

The Church permits the first to be enacted 
for various reasons and in different cases. 
All teaching to the contrary relative to divorce 
from bed and board has been condemned by 
the Council of Trent in the following words: 
"If anyone saith that the Church errs, in that 



Divorce. 



189 



she declares that for many causes a separa- 
tion may take place between husband and 
wife, in regard of bed, or in regard of ,cohabi- 
tation, for a determinate or for an indeter- 
minate period, let him be anathema." When 
a marriage is ratified and consummated, no 
divorce can ever be granted a vinculo, namely, 
from the bond of marriage. 

Christ it was who raised marriage to the 
dignity of a sacrament, and this bond of holy 
marriage therefore is only to be dissolved by 
death. When young people enter into mar- 
riage, they must be aw r are that this state has 
many responsibilities, many difficulties must 
be combated, many burdens to be carried, 
and many temptations must such overcome. 
Jesus Christ, when raising Christian marriage 
to a higher and nobler standard, when the 
supernatural dignity of a sacrament was lent 
to it, duties correspondingly strict and sublime 
were likewise added. They are to be subject 
one to the other in the fear of God, and the 
women subject to their husbands as to the 
Lord. (Ephes. v, 22.) 

Scripture says, too, they are to love, nour- 
ish, and cherish each other, as Christ loved 
the Church; they are to train their children 



190 A Silver Crown. 



in the fear of God. "Provoke not your chil- 
dren to anger; but bring them up in the disci- 
pline and correction of the Lord.' 5 Marriage 
was ennobled and blessed by Jesus when he 
assisted in person at the happy nuptials of 
Cana in Galilee; the vinculum or marriage 
bond was sanctioned by those plain but 
sacred words: "What therefore God hath 
joined together let not man put asunder." 

As the union of Christ with the Church 
cannot be broken, so the bond between hus- 
band and wife is indissoluble. There is no 
cause that can justify, nor is there any power 
upon earth that can authorize, the breaking 
of a legal and true bond of marriage between 
Christians after the marriage has been rati- 
fied and consummated. 

Divorce, therefore, in its strict sense, mean- 
ing that a divorced person may remarry during 
the lifetime of his or her respective partner, 
is forbidden by the law of God; so there is no 
reason that can justify, or authority on earth 
that can sanction it. The Catholic Church 
has taught this in all ages. Jesus Christ made 
this very clear, and no misunderstanding can 
therefore be argued from the point that the 
utterances of Christ were not sufficiently 



Divorce. 



191 



dear. His words are as follows: ' 'Every one 
that putteth away his wife, and marrieth 
another, committeth adultery; and he that 
marrieth her that is put away from her hus- 
band committeth adultery." Nothing but 
death can dissolve the marriage bond. 

Some non-Catholics are under the impres- 
sion that the Church has at times sanctioned 
divorce or has permitted the breaking of the 
marriage bond, that she has allowed one or 
both of the parties to marry again during the 
lifetime of the other. There is no truth in any 
of these assertions. The Church is very strict 
in regard to the sacrament of marriage, and at 
times where there was a default of consent, 
where close affinity existed, where the con- 
tract was illegal and where one or the other 
party was not of age, a marriage has been 
rendered null and void on account of the ex- 
istence of invalidating causes. Upon consid- 
eration of these various invalidating causes 
we cannot say that the marriage bond has 
been dissolved, that a divorce from the real 
vinculum or bond of marriage has been 
granted, but in reality it has been declared 
by the ecclesiastical authorities that no mar- 
riage ever existed between certain parties, be- 



192 



A Silver Crown. 



cause of the existence of a diriment impedi- 
ment which rendered the contract null and 
void. 

No marriage can therefore be dissolved, 
which was really a valid marriage completed 
between baptized persons. We prove this 
from the words of our Saviour, "What there- 
fore God hath joined together, let no man put 
asunder." 

The predecessor of the present Pontiff 
said: 

"In the great confusion of opinions, how- 
ever, which day by day is spreading more and 
more widely, it should further be known 
that no power can dissolve the bond of Chris- 
tian marriage whenever this has been ratified 
and consummated; and that as a consequence, 
those husbands and wives are guilty of a 
manifest crime who plan, for whatever reason, 
to be united in a second marriage before the 
first one has been ended by death. When, 
indeed, matters have come to such a pitch 
that it seems impossible for them to live to- 
gether any longer, then the Church allows 
them to live apart, and strives at the same time 
to soften the evils of this separation by such 
remedies and helps as are suited to their con- 



Divorce. 



193 



dition; yet she never ceases to endeavor to 
bring about a reconciliation, and never de- 
spairs of doing so. But these are extreme 
cases, and they would seldom exist if men 
and women entered into the married state 
with proper dispositions, not influenced by 
passion, but entertaining right ideas of the 
duties of marriage and its sole purpose; neither 
would they anticipate their marriage by a 
series of sins drawing down upon them the 
wrath of God. 

"To sum up all in a few words, there would 
be a calm and quiet constancy in marriage 
if married people would gather strength and 
life from the virtue of religion alone, which 
imparts to us resolution and fortitude; for 
religion would enable them to bear tranquilly 
and even gladly the trials of their state, such 
as, for instance, the faults which they discover 
in one another, the difference of temper and 
character, the weight of a mother's care, the 
wearing anxiety about the education of chil- 
dren, reverses of fortune, and the sorrows of 
life." 

How nice, and at the same time, how peace 
and harmony conveying, it would be if mar- 
ried people would only consider that every 



19-1 A Silver Crown. 



one of us is subject to many frailties and im- 
perfections, and that we all need the indul- 
gence of others. We are living in an imperfect 
world, and this world is for us but a proba- 
tionary period; it is not our real home. Why 
not make this short life of ours a happy and a 
peaceable life ? Why not contribute all that 
lies in our power to render this life sweet and 
agreeable. Let us follow the exhortation of 
the apostle: "Bear ye one another's burdens, 
and so shall ye fulfil the law of Christ." 

Most dissensions arise in married life be- 
cause the husband will not yield to his wife 
and the wife will not yield to her husband. 
One complains of the other, and why ? On 
account of a fault which the one notices in 
the other, and is not willing to bear. We 
ought to remember that we are anything but 
saints. Others find in me many things that 
are hard to bear; I will also have patience 
with the frailties of others. Contemplate 
Jesus and the saints, how great were not their 
patience and forbearance with the faults of 
others; how many and great insults and 
contumelies did they not endure with a pa- 
tience that was really heavenly ? 

"A mild answer breaketh wrath, but a 



Divorce. 195 

harsh word stirreth up fury." With a spoon- 
ful of honey you will entice more flies than 
with a barrel of vinegar. Consider that peace 
and harmony are blessings which will make 
us happy for time and eternity. Man and 
wife should form a union of love and fidelity 
so strong as that union of Christ with His 
Church. The love of a Christian husband 
and wife should be cemented by a union of 
happiness and conjugal fidelity. The bond 
uniting husband and wife can be dissolved 
only by death. 

The Church has always watched over the 
sanctity and perpetuity of the married state 
with care and protection. This is her inflex- 
ible law which she has ever upheld in spite 
of the passions and railleries of some of her 
children. 

Josephine, who was the lawful wife of 
Napoleon I, had done everything to prove her 
love and devotion, yet Napoleon in sinful 
passion and voluptuousness became enamored 
of Marie Louise, of Austria. His devoted 
wife Josephine is repudiated; Napoleon mar- 
ries Marie Louise. Napoleon knows well the 
.laws of the Church, that any attempt to ob- 
tain a divorce from the Holy See and thus 



196 A Silver Crown. 



sanction his adulterous marriage with Marie 
Louise, would terminate fruitlessly and in 
vain. 

"Henry VIII, once an obedient son and 
defender of the Church, conceived, in an evil „ 
hour, a criminal attachment for Anne Boleyn, 
a lady of the queen's household, whom he 
desired to marry after being divorced from 
his lawful consort, Catherine of Arragon. But 
Pope Clement VII, whose sanction he solic- 
ited, sternly refused to ratify the separation, 
though the Pontiff could have easily foreseen 
that his determined action would involve the 
Church in persecution, and a whole nation 
in the unhappy schism of its ruler. Had the 
Pope acquiesced in the repudiation of Cath- 
erine, and in the marriage of Anne Boleyn, 
England would, indeed, have been spared to 
the Church, but the Church herself would 
have surrendered her peerless title of Mistress 
of Truth." 

Christian wives and mothers, those who are 
aware of the many blessings and graces which 
are concomitant with a marriage having the 
sanction of holy Mother Church, those who 
know how well this kind Mother safeguards, 
its holiness and indissolubility, they extend 



Divorce. 



197 



to the Catholic Church their most heartfelt 
gratitude. They understand that the Church 
does not look upon the wife as a slave, but 
the equal of her husband; she is not simply 
a tool or some other instrument for the 
gratification of man's desires, but she is his 
faithful companion: by the influence and 
power of the Church she shares alike with her 
husband in all the rights of liberty and con- 
science. 

Divorce, then, in its true significance, is a 
curse, fruitful of every evil. Pope Leo XIII, 
in writing on the evils of divorce, and at the 
same time riving a warning; to all Christians 
against the civil law of divorce, says : 

"Truly, it is hardly possible to describe 
how great are the evils that flow from divorce. 
Matrimonial contracts are by it made vari- 
able: mutual kindness is weakened; deplor- 
able inducements to unfaithfulness are sup- 
plied; harm is done to the education and 
training of children; occasion is afforded for 
the breaking up of homes; the seeds of dis- 
sension are sown among families; the dignity 
of womanhood is lessened and brought low, 
and women run the risk of being deserted 
after having ministered to the pleasures of 



198 A Silver Crown. 



men., Since, then, nothing has such power to 
lay waste families and destroy the mainstay 
of kingdoms as the corruption of morals, it 
is easily seen that divorces are in the highest 
degree hostile to the prosperity of families 
and States, springing as they do from the de- 
praved morals of the people, and, as expe- 
rience shows us, opening out a way to every 
kind of evil-doing in public alike and in pri- 
vate life. So soon as the road to divorce began 
to be made smooth by law, at once quarrels, 
jealousies, and judicial separations largely 
increased, and such shamelessness of life fol- 
lowed, that men who had been in favor of 
these divorces repented of what they had 
done, and feared that, if they did not care- 
fully seek a remedy by repealing the law, the 
State itself might come to ruin." 



Betrothal and Marriage. 199 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE. 

THE Bishops of our Province, complying 
with the injunction of our Sovereign 
Pontiff, addressed the subsequent pastoral 
letter to their subjects on Christian Marriage, 
based on the decree of Pius X: 

Marriage as a natural contract is of divine 
institution. We read that after the creation of 
Adam, God gave to him Eve as a companion. 
"It is not good for man to be alone; let us 
make a help like unto himself," said the 
Lord God, and he created Eve and brought 
her to Adam. And Adam said, "This is bone 
of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Wherefore 
a man shall leave father and mother and shall 
cleave to his wife and they shall be two in 
one flesh." This natural contract w r as ele- 
vated to the dignity of a sacrament by our 
divine Lord. Such has always been the 
teaching of the Catholic Church. The es- 
sence of the sacrament is the natural contract, 



200 



A Silver Crown. 



The contract is made by the free mutual 
consent of the contracting parties. Like all 
contracts it must fulfill certain conditions to 
have binding force. Thus, for the proper 
regulation and greater security of contracts, 
the civil law lays down certain conditions, the 
neglect or non-fulfillment of which renders 
such contracts null and void. For the trans- 
mission of property by will after death, for 
instance, certain formalities must be observed 
by law, otherwise the will is null and void. 
Again, the civil law declares certain persons 
incapable of entering into contracts. Those 
under legal age cannot legally make debts 
or dispose of property; nor can they contract 
marriage. If they do so such contracts have 
no binding force in law. In many states the 
civil law prohibits marriage of first cousins. 
Experience has shown that these conditions 
enforced by the civil law are for the public 
welfare. 

Now the Church, to whose care Christ en- 
trusted all the Sacraments, has jurisdiction 
over the sacramental contract just as the civil 
power has over natural contracts. Acting 
therefore, on the same principle as the State, 
but prompted by a higher and nobler motive, 



Betrothal and Marriage. 201 



the Church has at all times laid down certain 
conditions without which she decrees that the 
matrimonial contract, elevated to the dignity 
of a Sacrament by our Divine Lord, will be 
null and void. She has in all past ages estab- 
lished certain impediments which rendered 
the parties affected thereby incapable of 
marriage. The spiritual and temporal wel- 
fare of her children demanded such action 
on the part of the Church, our Mother. One 
of these impediments is that of clandestinity, 
or that directed against secret marriages. 

In the sixteenth century, at the Oecumen- 
ical Council of Trent, it was decreed, Sess. 
XXIV, Chap. I, that: "Those who, other- 
wise than in the presence of the parish priest 
himself, or of another priest acting with the 
license of the parish priest, or of the ordinary, 
and in the presence of two or three witnesses, 
shall attempt to contract marriage, the Holy 
Synod renders such altogether incapable of 
thus contracting marriage and decrees that 
contracts of this kind are null and void." The 
decree added that it was not to have force 
except in those places in which it had been 
promulgated. The object of this decree was 
to prevent grave sins and to safeguard the 
unity and stability of Christian marriage. 



202 



A Silver Crown. 



Yielding to the petitions of a large number 
of bishops throughout the world, requesting 
that this decree against clandestinity, as it is 
called, should be extended to the universal 
Church, our Holy Father, through the Sacred 
Congregation of the Council, on August 2, 
1907, enacted and published the new law, 
which went into effect on Easter Sunday, 
April 19, 1908. 

Concerning Betrothals, it is decreed, that 
every engagement, in which one or both 
parties are Catholics, in order to be valid in 
the eyes of the Church, must be in writing and 
duly signed and witnessed. There is no 
obligation to enter an engagement. Marriage 
is lawful without it. An engagement is duly 
signed and witnessed in any one of three ways : 
1. The two parties sign it, and the bishop 
signs it as witness. 2. The two parties sign 
it, and the pastor of one of the contracting 
parties signs it as witness. 3. The two parties 
sign it, and at least two witnesses sign it. 
The Church desires that either of the first 
two methods be employed; but the third is 
also valid. In case one or both the engaging 
parties are unable to write, this fact must be 
noted in the contract, and, in whichever of 



Betrothal and Marriage. 203 



the above ways it be attested one additional 
witness must sign it. An engagement be- 
tween non-Catholic parties, whether baptized 
or not baptized, is not affected by this law. 
The baptized non-Catholic in such a case is 
exempted by the Church from the operation 
of the law, and the unbaptized are not bound 
by it. 

TW special effects of an engagement, valid 
in the eyes of the Church, are two: 1. It 
makes a marriage unlawful with a third, un- 
less the engagement shall have been justly 
dissolved. 2. It renders invalid a marriage 
to a third party who is a blood relation in 
the first degree to either of the engaged par- 
ties, unless a dispensation for such marriage 
be obtained. A valid engagement has this 
effect even after having been justly dissolved. 
One effect of the new law governing engage- 
ments will be to prevent hasty and inconsid- 
erate marriages; and another will be to 
afford more ample protection to womankind. 

While there is no obligation to make an en- 
gagement, in order that the marriage be either 
valid or licit, it is the wish of the Church 
that all Catholics intending to marry should 
enter into such engagements. 

In order the better to secure the good re- 



204 



A Silver Crown. 



suits intended by the law, we earnestly rec- 
ommend and urge that three months before- 
hand, the parties who intend to marry contract 
the solemn betrothal in writing before the 
bishop or the pastor or two witnesses. In 
case one of the parties is not a Catholic a dis- 
pensation must be obtained before the be- 
trothal is entered into. Between the betrothal 
and the marriage Catholics should go fre- 
quently to Holy Communion in order that 
they may receive with fruit and devotion the 
Sacrament of Matrimony. Pastors shall di- 
rect them to come to the preparatory instruc- 
tions between the engagement and the mar- 
riage. 

Concerning the validity of marriage, it has 
been decreed, that when one or both parties 
to the contract are Catholics, it is a marriage 
of Catholics. 

Catholics from whatever country or place 
they come can be validly married in the pres- 
ence of the ordinary within the limits of the 
diocese, or the pastor within the limits of his 
parish, missions or stations, or a priest who 
has received delegation from either the bishop 
or the pastor to assist at marriages in the 
diocese or in the parish. As to residence, it 



Betrothal and Marriage. 205 



is sufficient for validity that the contracting: 
parties present themselves before the bishop 
within his diocese, or the pastor within his 
territory. 

No marriage between Catholics is valid 
(with two exceptions to be noted) if not so 
celebrated. 

A marriage of Catholics is not valid if cele- 
brated by a bishop outside his diocese or by 
a pastor outside his parish, missions or sta- 
tions, unless delegation be had from the 
bishop or the pastor of such place. 

No marriage is valid, if celebrated by a 
bishop or a pastor who has not entered upon 
his office. Xo marriage is valid unless the 
bishop or the priest assists freely and not from 
fear or through compulsion. Xo marriage is 
valid unless the bishop or the priest asks and 
receives from the contracting parties the mu- 
tual consent in which the marriage contract 
consists. No marriage is valid if contracted 
before a bishop or a priest, who is, by public 
decree, excommunicated by name or suspend- 
ed from his office. Xo marriage is valid un- 
less there are at least two witnesses. One 
witness besides the officiating priest does not 
suffice. 



206 



A Silver Crown. 



There are two exceptional cases, in which 
the presence of bishop, or pastor, or delegated 
priest, is not required: 1. When there is dan- 
ger of death and the parties desire, for peace 
of conscience, to contract marriage, provided 
that neither the bishop nor the pastor nor a 
duly delegated priest can be had in time, the 
marriage can be validly and lawfully contract- 
ed in the presence of any priest and two 
witnesses. 2. If in any place during an entire 
month, the parties cannot procure the pres- 
ence of the bishop or the pastor or a duly 
delegated priest, a marriage can be validly 
and lawfully contracted by the parties declar- 
ing their mutual consent before any two 
witnesses. This is a case which cannot occur 
in our dioceses. 

With the exception of the two cases just 
stated, any marriage of Catholics before a 
non-Catholic clergyman or a civil official, or 
in any way other than before the bishop, or 
a pastor, or a priest duly delegated, is invalid. 
Any marriage of baptized non-Catholics, where 
both parties are such, no matter in what way 
it is performed, is valid, for the Church ex- 
pressly exempts such from the operation of 
the present law. Any marriage of unbaptized 



Betrothal and Marriage. 207 



persons, where both parties are such, is valid 
as a natural contract, although of course, it 
is not a sacrament. 

In all cases where a dispensation has been 
obtained for a mixed marriage, whether the 
non-Catholic party be baptized or not, the 
marriage must be celebrated either before the 
bishop or the parish priest or a priest duly 
delegated and two witnesses. 

Regulations are made in the present decree 
also for the lawfulness of marriage. The 
violation of these is sinful, but does not affect 
the validity of a marriage. 

A marriage is unlawful if celebrated in a 
place where neither of the parties has a domi- 
cile — nor has resided for one month. A 
domicile is one's fixed abode. A domicile 
is acquired by actual residence in a place 
with the intention of making it a fixed abode. 
It is lost when one ceases to have his place of 
abode there. From the day a person enters 
upon his or her fixed abode in a place, that 
place is their domicile. When a person has a 
domicile in a place or has resided there con- 
tinuously for a month, he or she may lawfully 
contract marriage there. Otherwise a mar- 
riage is unlawful unless with the permission 



208 



A Silver Crown. 



of the bishop or the pastor of one of the par- 
ties, that is, the bishop or the pastor of the 
place of the domicile or month's residence of 
either of the contracting parties. There is, 
however, an exception to this rule, viz., a case 
of necessity. When in the judgment of bishop 
or pastor the necessity is considered grave, 
the marriage is lawful. 

A general rule, not to be deviated from 
unless for just cause, requires the marriage 
to take place before the pastor of the bride. 

Where there is no domicile of either of the 
parties, nor any place where they have last 
resided for a month, the pastor to whom the 
parties apply must, except in case of necessity, 
obtain permission from the bishop or from 
the priest appointed by him to grant such 
permissions. 

There are regulations made likewise for 
the proper registration of marriages. These 
are to be entered not only in the marriage 
register of the parish where the marriage 
takes place, but also in the baptismal register 
of the parish where the parties were baptized. 
We strongly urge that persons baptized in a 
parish other than that of marriage, obtain 
their baptismal certificates in order to facili- 



Betrothal and Marriage. 209 



tate the performance of the duty of registra- 
tion incumbent upon the pastor. The obli- 
gation of securing due registration of the 
marriage, rests in the exceptional case of 
death-bed marriages, upon the priest who 
officiates and the contracting parties, and in 
such wise that no one of these is free from 
the obligation unless one of the others has 
complied with it. 

In the exceptional case of marriage before 
any two witnesses, a like obligation rests upon 
the contracting parties and the two witnesses. 

The registration of the marriage except in 
the two cases mentioned must be made and 
signed by the pastor or by the priest who 
takes his place, even though another duly 
delegated priest assisted at the marriage. 

To forestall any doubts or difficulties as to 
the validity of the marriage ceremony, we 
hereby declare that all assistant priests, ad- 
ministrators and substitutes, who shall be 
appointed by Us in the future, shall be vested 
with the full and absolute power and author- 
ity to assist at the valid celebration of marriage 
within the limits of the parishes, missions or 
stations to which they shall be assigned; and 
We grant this same power and authority to 



210 



A Silver Crown. 



all assistants, administrators and substitutes 
now having faculties in Our various dioceses. 
But while they are thus delegated by Us 
without any restriction in the valid use of this 
power, assistants shall be dependent on the 
authorization of their respective pastors for 
the lawful exercise thereof. 

Parties wishing to arrange for marriage 
must prove their domicile or their month's 
residence, as well as their freedom to marry, 
and it is obligatory on the pastor to see that 
these three points are proven. 

We forbid Catholics to assist as groomsmen 
and bridesmaids at non-Catholic weddings, 
without permission of the bishop; and none 
but Catholics are permitted to assist as the 
two witnesses whose names are to appear on 
the matrimonial register at the marriage of 
Catholics. 

We exhort all whose duty it shall be to per- 
form the marriage ceremony to insure its 
conscientious observance. Let them do all 
in their power to promote a worthy reception 
of the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony by the 
contracting parties. A thorough instruction 
in the principal doctrines of our Holy Faith 
should be given, and a careful investigation 



Betrothal and Marriage. 211 



in regard to the existence of any impediments 
to marriage should be made by the pastor of 
souls. It happens quite often that Catholics 
have forgotten much of what they learned 
concerning their Faith, while attending a 
Catholic school, or during the instructions 
preparatory to First Holy Communion and 
Confirmation. Experience also teaches that 
not unfrequently impediments, of which they 
are quite ignorant, exist between parties in- 
tending marriage. In such cases a dispen- 
sation should be applied for before the pub- 
lication of the banns. 

"But something more than the observance 
of these laws of the Church in relation to 
marriage is required," say the fathers of the 
second Plenary Council of Baltimore, "in 
order that Christians should discharge their 
entire duty, when about to enter the conjugal 
state. Its sacred character, and the obliga- 
tions towards God's society which it imposes, 
should always be kept in mind. Purity of 
life, and affection that has better and more 
lasting grounds than the impulse of passion, 
are the only proper dispositions for entering 
upon a state of life which death alone can 
change, and which involves so many impor- 
tant consequences for time and eternity. " 



212 



A Silver Crown. 



"Who/' asks Tertullian, "can express the 
happiness of that marriage which the Church 
approves, which sacrifice confirms, which 
blessing seals, angels announce, and the father 
ratifies?" Bearing in mind the sanctity of 
marriage, and the time-honored usages of the 
Church in the administration of the sacra- 
ment, we cannot too strongly urge upon you 
the importance of contracting it before the 
altar of God, with the nuptial Mass, so as to 
receive that special blessing which carries 
with it so many graces, to enable those who 
enter upon this holy state to fulfill its most 
important duties." 



Decree on Betrothal and Marriage, 213 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

DECREE ON BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE. 

THE Council of Trent, Cap. I, Sess. XXIV 
de Reform. Matrim., made prudent pro- 
vision against the rash celebration of clan- 
destine marriages, which the Church of God 
for most just reasons has always detested and 
forbidden, by decreeing: "Those who, other- 
wise than in the presence of the parish priest 
himself or of another priest acting with the 
license of the parish priest or of the ordinary, 
and in the presence of two or three witnesses, 
shall attempt to contract matrimony, the Holy 
Synod renders them altogether incapable of 
contracting marriage thus, and decrees that 
contracts of this kind are null and void." 

But as the same Sacred Council prescribed 
that said Decree should be published in all 
the parishes and w T as not to have force except 
in those places in which it had been promul- 
gated, it has happened that many places in 
which the publication has not been made 



214 A Silver Crown. 



have been deprived of the benefit of the 
Tridentine law, and are still without it, and 
continue to be subject to the doubts and in- 
conveniences of the old discipline. 

Nor has all difficulty been removed in those 
places where the new law has been in force. 
For often there has been grave doubt in de- 
ciding as to the person of the parish priest 
before whom a marriage is to be celebrated. 
The canonical discipline did indeed decide 
that he is to be regarded as the parish priest 
in whose parish one or other of the contracting 
parties has his or her domicile or quasi- 
domicile. But as it is sometimes difficult to 
judge whether a quasi-domicile really exists 
in a specified case, not a few marriages were 
exposed to the danger of nullity; many too, 
either owing to ignorance, or fraud, have 
been found to be quite illegitimate and void. 

These deplorable results have been seen to 
happen more frequently in our own time on 
account of the increased facility and celerity 
of inter-communication between the different 
countries, even those most widely separated. 
It has therefore seemed expedient to wise 
and learned men to introduce some change 
into the law regulating the form of the cele- 



Decree on Betrothal and Marriage. 215 

bration of marriage, and a great many bish- 
ops in all parts of the world, but especially in 
the more populous states where the necessity 
appears more urgent, have petitioned the 
Holy See to this end. 

It has been asked also by very many bish- 
ops in Europe, as well as by others in various 
regions, that provisions should be made to 
prevent the inconveniences arising from Spon- 
salia, that is, mutual promises of marriage, 
privately entered upon. For experience has 
sufficiently shown the many dangers of such 
Sponsalia, first as being an incitement to sin 
and causing the deception of inexperienced 
girls, and afterwards giving rise to inex- 
tricable dissensions and disputes. 

Influenced by these circumstances our Holy 
Father Pope Pius X, desiring, in the solici- 
tude he bears for all the churches, to intro- 
duce some modifications with the object of 
removing these drawbacks and dangers, com- 
mitted to the Sacred Congregation of the Coun- 
cil the task of examining into the matter and 
of proposing to himself the measures it should 
deem opportune. 

He was pleased also to have the opinion of 
the commission appointed for the codification 



216 



A Silver Crown. 



of Canon Law, as well as of the Eminent Car- 
dinals chosen on this special commission for 
the preparation of the new code, by whom, as 
well as by the S. Congregation of the Council, 
frequent meetings have been held for this 
purpose. The opinions of all having been 
taken, His Holiness ordered the Sacred Con- 
gregation of the Council to issue a Decree 
containing the laws, approved by himself on 
sure knowledge and after mature deliberation 
by which the discipline regarding Sponsalia 
and marriage is to be regulated for the future 
and the celebration of them carried out in a 
sure and orderly manner. 

In execution, therefore, of the Apostolic 
mandate the S. Congregation of the Council 
by these letters lays down and decrees what 
follows. 

Concerning Sponsalia. 

I. Only those are considered valid and pro- 
duce canonical effects, which have been con- 
tracted in writing signed by both the parties 
and by either the parish priest or the ordi- 
nary of the place, or at least by two witnesses. 

In case one or both the parties be unable 
to write, this fact is to be noted in the docu- 



Decree on Betrothal and Marriage. £17 

ment and another witness is to be added 
who will sign the writing as above, with the 
parish priest or the ordinary of the place or 
the two witnesses. 

II. Here and in the following articles by 
parish priest is to be understood not only a 
priest legitimately presiding over a parish 
canonically erected, but in regions where par- 
ishes are not canonically erected the priest 
to whom the care of souls has been legitimately 
entrusted in any specified district and who is 
equivalent to a parish priest; and in missions 
where the territory has not yet been perfectly 
divided, every priest generally deputed by the 
superior of the mission for the care of souls in 
any station. 

Concerning Marriage. 

III. Only those marriages are valid which 
are contracted before the parish priest or the 
ordinary of the place or a priest delegated by 
either of these, and at least two witnesses, 
according to the rules laid down in the follow- 
ing articles, and saving the exceptions men- 
tioned under VII and VIII. 

IV. The parish priest and the ordinary 
of the place validly assist at a marriage: 



218 



A Silver Crown. 



1. Only from the day they have taken pos- 
session of the benefice or entered upon their 
office, unless they have been by a public de- 
cree excommunicated by name or suspended 
from the office. 

2. Only within the limits of their territory; 
within which they assist validly at marriages 
not only of their own subjects, but also of 
those not subject to them. 

3. Provided when invited and asked, and 
not compelled by violence or by grave fear, 
they demand and receive the consent of the 
contracting parties. 

V. They assist licitly: 

1. When they have legitimately ascertained 
the free state of the contracting parties, hav- 
ing duly complied with the conditions laid 
down by the law. 

2. When they have ascertained that one of 
the contracting parties has a domicile or at 
least has lived for a month in the place where 
the marriage takes place. 

3. If this condition be lacking the parish 
priest and the ordinary of the place, to assist 
licitly at a marriage, require the permission 
of the parish priest or the ordinary of one of 
the contracting parties, unless it be a case of 



Decree on Betrothal and Marriage. 219 

grave necessity, which excuses from this per- 
mission. 

4. Concerning persons without fixed abode 
(vagos), except in case of necessity it is not 
lawful for a parish priest to assist at their 
marriage, until they report the matter to the 
ordinary or to a priest delegated by him and 
obtain permission to assist. 

5. In every case let it be held as the rule 
that the marriage is to be celebrated before 
the parish priest of the bride, unless some 
just cause excuses from this. 

VI. The parish priest and the ordinary of 
the place may grant permission to another 
priest, specified and certain, to assist at 
marriages within the limits of their district. 

The delegated priest, in order to assist 
validly and licitly, is bound to observe the 
limits of his mandate and the rules laid down 
above, in IV and V, for the parish priest and 
the ordinary of the place. 

VII. When danger of death is imminent 
and where the parish priest or the ordinary of 
the place or a priest delegated by either of 
these cannot be had, in order to provide for 
the relief of conscience and (should the case re- 
quire it) for the legitimation of offspring, 



220 



A Silver Crown. 



marriage may be contracted validly and licitly 
before any priest and two witnesses. 

VIII. Should it happen that in any dis- 
trict the parish priest or the ordinary of the 
place or a priest delegated by either of them, 
before whom marriage can be celebrated, is 
not to be had, and that this condition of 
things has lasted for a month, marriage may 
be validly and licitly entered upon by the 
formal declaration of consent made by the 
spouses in the presence of two witnesses. 

IX. 1. After the celebration of a marriage 
the parish priest or he who takes his place is 
to write at once in the book of marriages the 
names of the couple and of the witnesses, the 
place and day of the celebration of the mar- 
riage, and the other details, according to the 
method described in the ritual books or by 
the ordinary; and this even when another 
priest delegated either by the parish priest 
himself or by the ordinary has assisted at the 
marriage. 

2. Moreover, the parish priest is to note 
also in the book of baptisms, that the married 
person contracted marriage on such a day in 
his parish. If the married person has been 
baptized elsewhere the parish priest who has 



Decree on Betrothal and Marriage. 221 

assisted at the marriage is to transmit, either 
directly or through the episcopal curia, the 
announcement of the marriage that has taken 
place, to the parish priest of the place where 
the person was baptized, in order that the 
marriage may be inscribed in the book of 
baptisms. 

3. Whenever a marriage is contracted in 
the manner described in VII and VIII, the 
priest in the former case, the witnesses in 
the latter, are bound conjointly with the con- 
tracting parties to provide that the marriage 
be inscribed as soon as possible in the pre- 
scribed books. 

X. Parish priests who violate the rules 
thus far laid down are to be punished by their 
ordinaries according to the nature and grav- 
ity of their transgression. Moreover, if they 
assist at the marriage of anybody in violation 
of the rules laid down in 2 and 3 of No. V 
they are not to appropriate the stole-fees but 
must remit them to the parish priest of the 
contracting parties. 

XI. 1. The above laws are binding on all 
persons baptized in the Catholic Church and 
on those who have been converted to it from 
heresy or schism (even when either the latter 



222 



A Silver Crown. 



or the former have fallen away afterwards 
from the Church) whenever they contract 
sponsalia or marriage with one another. 

2. The same laws are binding also on the 
same Catholics as above, if they contract 
sponsalia or marriage with non-Catholics , 
baptized or unbaptized, even after a dispen- 
sation has been obtained from the impedi- 
ment mixtae religionis or disparitatis cultus; 
unless the Holy See decree otherwise for some 
particular place or region. 

3. Non-Catholics, whether baptized or un- 
baptized, who contract among themselves, 
are nowhere bound to observe the Catholic 
form of sponsalia or marriage. 

The present decree is to be held as legiti- . 
mately published and promulgated by its 
transmission to the ordinaries, and its provi- 
sions begin to have the force of law from the 
solemn feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ, 1908. 

Meanwhile let all the ordinaries of places 
see that this decree be made public as soon 
as possible, and explained in the different 
parochial churches of their dioceses in order 
that it may be known by all. 

These presents are to have force by the 



Decree on Betrothal and Marriage. 223 

special order of our Most Holy Father Pope 
Pius X, all things to the contrary, even those 
worthy of special mention, to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

Given at Rome on the 2nd day of August 
in the year 1907. 

f VINCENT Card. Bishop of Palestrina, 

Prefect. 

C. DE LAI, Secretary. 



224 



A Silver Crown. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MIXED MARRIAGES. 

SUCH unions where husband and wife are 
of a different faith, are called mixed 
marriages. In the old dispensation already 
such unions were forbidden by Almighty God, 
the Jewish people were instructed as regards 
this matter by their leader Moses. "Thou 
shalt not make marriages with them. Thou 
shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor 
take his daughter for thy son. For she will 
turn away thy son from following Me, that 
he may rather serve strange gods; and the 
wrath of the Lord will be kindled and will 
quickly destroy thee/ 5 "Swear by the Lord 
that thou take not a wife for my son from the 
daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I 
dwell." 

In the new dispensation the apostle St. 
Paul warns the early Christians to take 
heed, not to have aught to do with such who 
are unbelievers, to form with them no matri- 



Mixed Marriages. 



225 



monial alliance, because if they were to trans- 
gress God's law in this respect it would mean 
misery to themselves, for many things that 
the true and faithful Christian would hold 
as essential and sacred, unbelievers would 
scoff at, and instead of possessing a life that 
can be called peaceful and happy, it would 
simply mean a life of discord and unhappi- 
ness. 

Where one party is Catholic and the other 
is not, the Church grieves at such a marriage. 
The Church knows that it means a great in- 
difference in matters of religion with so 
many allied in a mixed union, and she grieves, 
too, because the Catholic training and edu- 
cation of the offspring is so frequently neg- 
lected. Instead of the Catholic party per- 
forming his or her duty, as the case may be, 
the children are lost entirely to the faith, not 
even are the essentials of our holy religion 
conveyed to them. This in turn means a still 
greater loss. The children have never been 
reared in the Catholic faith, due to the neglect 
and utter carelessness of the parents; and, in 
consequence of this, when they themselves 
arrive at that age when they seriously consider 
and contemplate the responsibilities of the 



226 



A Silver Crown. 



married state, and do actually assume such 
responsibilities and duties, what is the result ? 

Should the good God bless their union with 
progeny, all children of such unions, then, 
are lost entirely to our holy faith, and thus 
calculating the great loss induced genera- 
tion after generation, the loss becomes more 
and more enormous. The Church leaves no 
means untried to make us feel how repugnant 
such unions are to her. The majesty of her 
wedding ritual is absent. Such marriages 
are not contracted in the Church, but in the 
parsonage, and all that lends solemnity to the 
beautiful marriage rite must be omitted. 

From this we may learn that the Church 
disapproves of mixed marriages and reluc- 
tantly does she grant a dispensation to vali- 
date a union under these circumstances. 
"Care must be taken that the faithful do not 
easily enter marriage with those who are not 
Catholics; for when minds do not agree as to 
the observances of religion, it is scarcely pos- 
sible to hope for agreement in other things. 
Other reasons, also proving that persons 
should turn with dread from such marriages, 
are chiefly these: that they give occasion to 
forbidden associations and communion in 



Mixed Marriages. 227 



religious matters; endanger the faith of the 
Catholic partner; are a hindrance to the prop- 
er education of the children; and often lead 
to a mixing up of truth and falsehood, and to 
a belief that all religions are equally good." 

All that we read from the highest authori- 
ties in the Church, the Church has always 
reprobated mixed marriages, and at times, 
' 'if the more recent constitutions of the Sov- 
ereign Pontiffs relax the severity of the canons 
in some degree, so that mixed marriages may 
occasionally be allowed, this is done for the 
gravest reasons, and very reluctantly, and not 
without the express condition of requiring 
beforehand those proper and indispensable 
pledges which have their foundation in the 
natural and divine law." 

When a dispensation is granted to a mixed 
couple, it is done for grave reasons. Dispen- 
sation obtained, and the marriage being cele- 
brated before the priest according to the laws 
of the Church, it is indeed a lawful marriage; 
and on this account it would be neither right 
nor just to condemn such a marriage. Besides 
the dispensation making valid a mixed mar- 
riage, certain specific conditions are always 
required before the dispensation is granted. 



228 



A Silver Crown. 



There are promises to be made and signed 
by the contracting parties: 1. That all chil- 
dren born of the marriage shall be baptized 
and brought up in the Catholic faith. 2. That 
the Catholic party shall have full liberty for 
the practice of the Catholic religion. 3. That 
no religious marriage ceremony shall take 
place elsewhere than in the Catholic Church. 
4. A verbal promise is usually required from 
the Catholic, that he or she will endeavor 
by all possible means, and especially by good 
example, to bring the non-Catholic into the 
true Church. 

"A Christian marriage is, in the first place 
a communion in sacred things; but, as St. 
Paul teaches, there can be no communion be- 
tween light and darkness, that is, there can be 
no religious communion between one who 
has the faith, and one who has not the faith. 
They cannot communicate in faith, in wor- 
ship, or in the sacraments. And for one 
without faith to communicate in a sacrament 
is a sacrilege, because it is the violation of a 
most sacred thing. Yet marriage in the Cath- 
olic Church involves this sacramental Com- 
munion. Secondly, the parties to the mar- 
riage are the ministers of the Sacrament, 



Mixed Marriages. 



229 



and, in a mixed marriage, one of the parties 
ministers in that solemn act of religion hav- 
ing neither Catholic faith nor belief in the 
Sacrament. Thirdly, the Catholic marriage 
is a Communion in the grace of Christ and 
in the benediction of the Church; and, there- 
fore, the spouses prepare themselves by puri- 
fying their hearts in this Sacrament of Pen- 
ance, and partake together of the Body of 
the Lord. But in a mixed marriage, although 
the baptism of the heretical person secures the 
validity of the marriage, and although, to 
prevent worse evils, the Church may reluc- 
tantly grant such a dispensation as to prevent 
the unlawfulness of the marriage, yet she 
withholds her blessing, and forbids the Holy 
Sacrifice, and mourns over a union which is 
neither a Communion in faith nor in grace. 
Fourthly, we have seen from Divine revelation 
how a Catholic marriage represents and signi- 
fies the nuptial union between Christ and His 
Church, the profound meaning of which sac- 
ramentally affects the spiritual relations of 
the married pair in Christ, and gives them 
great united responsibilities as members of 
the Church. But how can the union between 
a member of the Church and one who is not 



230 



A Silver Crown. 



a member of it express the union between 
Christ and the Church ? And how can they 
fulfill united duties towards the Church ? For 
such grave reasons as these has the Church 
called these mixed marriages sacrilegious." 

In reference to this question of mixed mar- 
riages, some person could object and say: 
"Well, if mixed marriages are really bad, why 
does not your Church cut herself off from them 
entirely; why does she not refuse to grant a 
dispensation ?" The answer to this is, that 
the Church is a kind and charitable Mother; 
she in the first place takes all the necessary 
precautions against the evils that generally 
result from mixed marriages, and giving the 
question all due consideration and proper 
forethought, and even then with a reluctance, 
she finally grants the dispensation. In her 
wisdom and charity she is compelled to do 
this. So you can see it is for reasons most 
weighty that she utilizes her supreme author- 
ity in the alteration of her laws on this point. 

When, however, for just reasons a dispen- 
sation has been granted, the mixed marriage 
is devoid of every religious ceremony; it can- 
not, as already stated, be performed in the 
Church, but must be performed outside of the 



Mixed Marriages. 



231 



Church, and the priest assisting at such a 
marriage is not vested in his sacerdotal robes, 
as is the case in a true Christian marriage 
between two Catholics. 

All this is done for the sole reason that the 
Church regards mixed marriages with disfavor. 
If she permitted the celebration of a mixed 
marriage with the same ceremonies as the 
marriage which she fain blesses between two 
Catholics, there would, as a writer well versed 
on this subject says, be no outward manifes- 
tation of her sadness and regret in having 
to expose souls to spiritual peril by tolerating 
a mixed marriage under certain conditions. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 

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